Montel Williams says teens who 'beat a special needs man on Facebook live' deserve life in prison and no parole: TV personality believes thugs can no longer be trusted in society after their 'cold blooded torture'

  • Williams had strong words for the four thugs accused in the brutal attack 
  • He said they deserved the harshest punishment, no matter their upbringings 
  •  TV personality wrote: 'My prayers go out to the man in this disgusting video'

Montel Williams has slammed the four people who allegedly attacked a mentally disabled man, and has called for them to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The beating was captured on cellphone video by one of the assailants and has since been viewed millions of times on social media. 

The graphic footage shows the suspects taunting the victim with profanities against white people and President-elect Donald Trump. 

On Thursday, the television personality wrote on Facebook that the thugs can no longer be trusted in society, and deserved the harshest punishment.

'Life in prison. No parole. I'm not interested in whether these kids had a tough life, whether their parents loved them enough, I don't care.

'Whether this is a hate crime is a distraction and irrelevant - THIS IS THE COLD BLOODED TORTURE OF AN INNOCENT HUMAN BEING.' 

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Montel Williams has spoken out against the four people who allegedly attacked a mentally disabled man. He is pictured in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday

The television personality called for life in prison without parole for the attackers

He wrote: 'My prayers go out to the young man in this disgusting video.'

On Saturday, Williams said in a video posted on Facebook: 'I thought I might take just a minute to amplify what I'm talking about, when I say that this Chicago crime was a crime against humanity.

'Let's remember that yes it is a hate crime, and most people are thinking about that because of race, but this was a person who was less than fully capable as the rest of us.

Jordan Hill, 18, is one of the members of the torture gang who allegedly kidnapped and filmed the torture of a special needs man. Prosecutors say Hill, of suburban Carpentersville,  demanded a $300 ransom from the victim's mother

Members of the alleged torture gang (l-r) Tesfaye Cooper, 18; Brittany Covington, 18; and her sister Tanisha Covington, 24, have all been charged with two hate crimes in addition to other charges

'I don't want to use the term handicapped, but that's what we say. This young man was differently abled, and one of the least of us.

'And let's also remember while we are thinking about this, that there's a movement afoot to take away care from people like him by completely destroying the Affordable Care Act.

'Let's remember people like him need that as protection, and need that protection expanded. So while we talk about inhumanity, let's remember the least of us.'

The four men and women allegedly tortured a 18-year-old special needs man with schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder in Chicago. Thirty minutes of the torture was live-streamed on Facebook on Tuesday

He also wrote on the social media site: 'This is a serious crime - the hate crime, the racism is almost irrelevant in light of the cold blooded torture of another human being - that's on a whole different level, and the fact this young man is differently able and was unable to fight back is the final straw justifying the most serious punishment available under the law.

'Plenty of people grow up in the hood - myself included - the notion that's an excuse for torturing another human being disgusts me.'

A Chicago judge refused to allow the suspects caught on cellphone footage taunting and beating a mentally disabled white man to post bail and leave jail, saying they are accused of such 'terrible actions' that they are a danger to society.

'Where was your sense of decency?' Cook County Circuit Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil asked them on Friday during their first court appearance, sounding baffled that the suspects could be charged with such cruelty toward the 18-year-old victim. 

Family members of Brittany Covington and Tanishia Covington, left and right, leave the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Friday 

Prosecutors offered new details of the assault, explaining that one of the suspects demanded $300 from the mother of the victim, who is schizophrenic and has attention-deficit disorder. 

They also said the beating started in a van when the same attacker became angry that the mother had contacted him asking that her son be allowed to come home.

A prosecutor told the judge that the suspects forced the victim to drink toilet water, kiss the floor and then allegedly stuffed a sock into his mouth and taped it shut as they bound his hands with a belt.

The four are charged with two counts of committing a hate crime - one because of the victim's race and the other because of his mental disabilities.

On the video, the male suspects use knives to cut the victim's hair and his sweatshirt. One of the females can be seen laughing. A female also laughs as she punches the victim.

One of the men pulls the cord from the victim's sweatshirt around the victim's neck and holds him up while the victim groans in pain, according to a document read in court. 

The victim can be heard screaming when one of the men walks up to him with a knife and asks if he should 'shank' him.

At one point, the prosecutor said, someone on the video can be heard saying that he did not care if the victim was schizophrenic.

It was at this McDonald's where the victim met Jordan Hill, after being dropped off by his mother

The four suspects were identified as Brittany Covington and Tesfaye Cooper, both of Chicago, and Jordan Hill, of suburban Carpentersville. All are 18. A fourth suspect was identified as Covington's 24-year-old sister, Tanishia Covington, also of Chicago.

They stood quietly as the prosecutor read the allegations. Some of their relatives also listened, including a woman who wiped tears from her eyes.

Defense attorneys portrayed the suspects as hardworking, responsible and religious. Cooper, for example, takes care of his twin brother, who is in a wheelchair. Tanishia Covington has two small children. Her sister attends college and has a job. Hill, the judge was told, goes to church with his grandmother.

All four have experienced brushes with the law, some for serious and violent crimes.

Hill, for example, was arrested as a juvenile in 2015 on allegations of armed robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and residential burglary. Chicago police said they did not know the disposition of those arrests by suburban officers.

Tanishia Covington was arrested in 2007 on attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery charges. Police records do not show any convictions as a juvenile. As an adult, she was arrested on charges of battery and aggravated assault, but those charges were dropped.

The victim was found on this block in Chicago after escaping from his ordeal

The uproar over the beating intensified the glare on Chicago after a bloody year of violent crime and protests against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a police department that has been accused of using excessive force and hushing-up wrongdoing. 

The department has also been the subject of a long civil-rights investigation by the Justice Department, which is expected to report its findings soon.

The incident also stirred emotions still raw after a presidential campaign that split the nation. Some conservatives suggested it was linked to the Black Lives Matter movement. Police said there was no indication of any connection.

The incident began New Year's Eve, when the victim and alleged assailant Jordan Hill met at a suburban McDonald's, and then called his parents later to say he was staying with Hill for a sleepover.

Instead, Hill drove the victim around in a stolen van for a couple of days, ending up at a home in Chicago, where two of the other suspects lived, police said.

The victim's parents reported him missing Monday evening, two days after last hearing from him. The victim eventually escaped and a police officer spotted him wandering down a street, bloodied and disoriented.

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