Hadiya Pendleton case: Man accused of killing Chicago teen held in jail to await new trial
Hadiya Pendleton case: Man accused of killing Chicago teen awaits new trial
The man accused of killing Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teen who was killed just days after performing at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration, will remain in jail as he awaits a new trial, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
CHICAGO - The man accused of killing Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teen who was killed just days after performing at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration, will remain in jail as he awaits a new trial, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
Micheail Ward’s 2018 conviction for Pendleton’s death was overturned in 2023, and he was granted a new trial.
He appeared in court on Tuesday when a judge ordered he be detained.
Conviction overturned
What we know:
An appellate court ruled that detectives improperly got Ward to confess his role in shooting the 15-year-old Pendleton after he said at least three times that he no longer wanted to talk to the interrogators.
Micheail Ward listens during his sentencing hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Jan. 14, 2019 in Chicago. Ward was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the slaying of Hadiya Pendleton and was sentenced to 84 ye (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The detectives continued questioning Ward, who was 18 at the time of the shooting.
The appellate court ruled that Ward’s statements were inadmissible and that the trial judge should have suppressed them.
Ward's next court appearance is set for May 5, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
What we don't know:
While Ward was still charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery, it was unclear exactly when his new trial will take place.
National outcry
The backstory:
Pendleton had performed as a majorette with her high school band at Obama's second inauguration festivities on Jan. 20, 2013.
She was killed on Jan. 29, 2013, when she and other students from King High School were under a canopy for cover from the rain that day. That’s when prosecutors say Ward fired a gun from an adjoining alley in the students’ direction and hit Pendleton in the back.
She later died from her injury.
A woman carries a heart-shaped memorial into the Greater Harvest Baptist Church before the funeral for 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton on Saturday. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The teen’s death was highlighted by many across the country, most notably by then-First Lady Michelle Obama, as a tragic case of the level of gun violence in Chicago.
Michelle Obama, a Chicago native, attended Pendleton’s funeral, and Pendleton’s parents attended the president’s State of the Union address just weeks later.
The park where she was killed was less than a mile from Obamas' Chicago home.