The mother and son charged with a hate crime in Carroll County have to change lawyers. The one representing 67-year old Cheryl A. Hampton of Streator and 45-year old Chad Hampton of Victoria, Illinois withdrew from their criminal cases that go back to 2020.
Cheryl Hampton is accused of harassing a witness for allegedly refusing to move or take down a hanging effigy of a Black man put up to offend a Black neighbor. Chad Hampton is accused of property damage for allegedly killing the neighbor’s grass with weed killer. They lived in Savanna, Illinois at the time.
In the lawsuit, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office asks a judge to ban the Hamptons from being near or contacting their former neighbor and to fine them for any violations.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office says a Confederate flag with a racial slur visible through a window at the home where Cheryl and Chad Hampton lived in Savanna, Illinois are part of the basis for the hate crime lawsuit against the mother and son. We obscured the word in this photo filed with the lawsuit.