From late 2020 through mid-2021, Chicago police arrested Johnny Allen four times for allegedly selling drugs in the same West Side neighborhood. Prosecutors dropped the charges every time. Almost exactly one month after the state dropped the fourth set of charges, Allen shot and tried to kill a man in the same neighborhood, allegedly for refusing to declare allegiance in an ongoing gang conflict.
This week, Cook County Judge Kenneth Wadas handed Allen a 29-year prison sentence for the shooting after a jury convicted the 26-year-old in June. One is left to wonder if his life and the life of the man he shot might have gone differently had prosecutors not given Allen so many free passes
Allen’s arrest spree began on November 28, 2020, when police took Allen into custody for allegedly distributing oxycodone in the 300 block of South Pulaski Road. Prosecutors dropped the charge during Allen’s bond hearing the following day…