LARGE BONDS FOR MOM, FRIEND AFTER BABY LEFT ON HIGHWAY

Although they are charged only with misdemeanors, a man who allegedly
abandoned a 10-month-old baby on the side of the Eisenhower Expressway
Sunday night and the mother who prosecutors say went on a drug binge with
him were ordered held on large bonds Tuesday.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge Tuesday set bond at $200,000 for Johnny L.
Brooks and $175,000 for Amanda Smith, at the urging of the Cook County
state's attorney's office.

"I think it's an appropriate bond under the circumstances--the nature of the
crime," said Bob Benjamin, spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

Brooks, 40, of 131 S. Pulaski Rd. was silent, his eyes focused straight
ahead throughout his bond hearing. Smith, 35, took off her straw hat halfway
through the hearing and scowled while prosecutors read off the allegations
of drug use and transactions conducted Sunday.

Both were charged Monday with misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct and
child neglect, which carry a maximum sentence of one year in prison.
Prosecutors said they could not charge them with felonies because state law
requires that a child be abandoned for at least 24 hours before a felony is
committed.

Smith and Brooks' alleged drug binge began Sunday afternoon when they drove
with the baby girl to a friend's house and bought marijuana, prosecutors
said. After Smith smoked the marijuana, the pair went to another friend's
house and purchased PCP, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors charged that Smith and Brooks returned to Smith's home, where
the two left the baby in the car while they went upstairs and used the
drugs. Later, prosecutors said, Brooks gave Smith a ride to another friend's
house, and then left to see his girlfriend, with the baby still in the car.
Once he discovered the baby was in the car, prosecutors said, Brooks pulled
over on the eastbound side of the Eisenhower about 150 feet west of the
Damen Avenue ramp, picked up the baby in her car seat and set her down in
the grass next to the shoulder before driving off.

Moments later, passersby stopped, and along with hospital staff, brought the
baby to nearby Rush-Presbyterian-St.Luke's Medical Center.

Brooks, prosecutors said, continued to a fast-food restaurant where he
dumped the baby's stroller and diaper bag. Later in the evening, Smith paged
Brooks to ask about the baby, and he answered that he didn't have her,
prosecutors said.

Police seized Smith and Brooks Monday, after Smith saw her child on the news
and dialed 911.

At the hearing Tuesday, Judge L.J. Kutrubis noted Brooks' previous
convictions for drug and weapons offenses and Smith's battery conviction,
when setting the hefty cash bonds. In the courtroom, Smith and Brooks'
family members and friends, who were gathered in the second row, cried and
hugged.

"I feel bad. All of my feelings are confused," said Brooks' girlfriend of
nine years, Tabitha Nash, 32, outside the courthouse. "I'm concerned about
the baby because we've got a baby, too," the North Side resident said while
cradling her 2-year-old, Jonae. "I don't know him like I thought I did."

Added Brooks' 21-year-old daughter, Lakeisha Sanders, "Drugs will tell you
to do anything. I'm not making no excuse, but I'm saying not all the weight
should be shifted onto him."

In addition to the high bond amount, Smith has to deal with the Department
of Children and Family Services, which earlier Tuesday was granted temporary
custody of the baby, Eleseia.

One of Smith's relatives brought the child home Tuesday, said DCFS
spokeswoman Maudlyne Ihejirika, but the department will have custody of the
baby until Smith's custody hearing on July 8.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett