Indiana man charged with threatening Will County prosecutor

An Indiana man has been charged with threatening a Will County prosecutor who’s running to become a circuit court judge.

Special Prosecutor William Elward charged Jowan Davis, 38, of Hammond, Indiana, with making a threat June 10 against Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Katie Rabenda that would place her in “reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm,” according to court records.

The felony charge against Davis further accuses him of making a threat that “contained specific facts” about Rabenda, such as her home, her judicial aspirations and that she “better have an escort on her at all times.”

Rabenda was the prosecutor for Davis’ 2019 aggravated battery case. In 2020, Davis pleaded guilty to that offense, and he was sentenced to two years of probation.

Yet Davis repeatedly kept violating the conditions of his sentence, leading Rabenda to petition to revoke his probation, court records show.

Davis ultimately was resentenced to serve 50% of a 30-day jail sentence June 10, the same day he’s charged with making a threat against Rabenda. He also was sentenced to a year of probation.

On Friday, Will County Judge Sherri Hale granted Elward’s request to keep Davis in jail after hearing his allegations about the case and a statement from Rabenda. Elward said Davis poses an immediate threat to Rabenda and her family.

“He’s obsessed with her,” Elward said.

Rabenda raised numerous concerns about Davis, including allegations regarding his past violent behavior, his threat to shoot up a police department, his claim that he knows how to make bombs and his refusal to obey court orders. She said Davis knows her address, sent her a request to connect on LinkedIn and posted on her Facebook page for her judicial candidacy.

“This defendant is very fixated on me,” Rabenda said.

Rabenda said there’s no conditions that could protect her and her family, including electronic monitoring, which she said would not help at places such as the grocery store or church.

Last March, Rabenda ran unopposed in the Republican primary for the circuit court judge position to fill the vacancy of Jeffrey Allen.