Will County convictions vacated in Harvey man’s Chicago carjacking chase

An appellate court has vacated the vehicular hijacking and armed robbery convictions in a case that was touted by the Will County state’s attorney as an example of “effective prosecution” in contrast to Cook County.

On Jan. 17, the 3rd District Appellate Court in Ottawa reversed the convictions of attempted vehicular hijacking, vehicular hijacking, armed robbery and unlawful weapon of a possession by a felon for Jordan Henry, 31, of Harvey.

Henry must face a new trial on those charges after the appellate court ruled Will County was an improper venue for prosecution of those charges.

The decision was delivered by Appellate Justice William Holdridge and concurred by Justices Liam Brennan and John Anderson, the latter of whom is a former Will County judge.

In 2023, Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak found Henry guilty of a 2022 hijacking of an elderly Uber driver’s vehicle at gunpoint in Chicago and leading police on a lengthy chase through several highways before crashing in Will County.

After Henry was sentenced in 2023 to serve 22 years in prison, State’s Attorney James Glasgow held a news conference to highlight the effectiveness of Will County’s prosecutions of cases over Cook County.

At the time, Glasgow said if Henry had been arrested in Chicago, he would’ve been “back out on the street in a very short period of time just like he bragged” despite his lengthy criminal history.

“But not this time. Justice was done,” Glasgow said.

In 2022, Henry’s attorneys motioned to dismiss the indictment against him by contending the charges concern offenses that took place entirely in Cook County, not Will County.

Bertani-Tomczak denied the defense motion “without making any factual findings,” according to the appellate court.

At the news conference, Glasgow said there has to be “effective prosecution” and “effectiveness in the courtrooms, which we have here.”

Glasgow said Henry “tried like heck” to get his case transferred back to Cook County, which his office fought and they “prevailed because the law says it can be tried” in Will County.

But the appellate court found that prosecutors eventually conceded that Henry was “improperly tried in Will County” for attempted vehicular hijacking.

The appellate court determined “no elements of robbery or vehicular hijackings were committed outside Cook County.”

The appellate court ruled the charges of “armed robbery and vehicular hijackings were proper only in Cook County.”

The appellate court also found there was no evidence to suggest Henry possessed a firearm in Will County.

“Having accepted the state’s concession that [Henry] was improperly tried in Will County for attempted vehicular hijacking, and having further found [Henry] was improperly tried in Will County for vehicular hijacking, armed robbery, and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, we vacate those convictions and remand them for a new trial,” the appellate court ruling said.

The appellate court ruled two charges of theft against Henry should receive a new sentencing hearing.

The appellate court did affirm the judgment on the charges of aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, and striking a police animal.