**⚖️ CHICAGO IS BURNING WITH ANGER: Serial criminal with 72 arrests – warned to be “likely to commit random violent crime” – was freed by Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez just months ago… despite prosecutors BEGGING to keep him locked up. Her response in open court that day? A single sentence so cold it’ll make your blood freeze. 😡

Days later, 26-year-old Bethany MaGee was doused in gasoline and set on fire on the Blue Line. She’s still fighting for her life with 60% of her body burned.

The judge’s exact words are now going viral… and people are demanding she be removed from the bench IMMEDIATELY. Click to read the courtroom transcript, see what the judge actually said, and why Chicago is ready to explode. This one sentence could destroy what’s left of trust in the system. 👇

The flames that consumed Bethany MaGee on a Chicago Blue Line train may have started with a flick of Lawrence Reed’s lighter, but the spark of outrage now engulfs Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez, whose courtroom decision to release the 50-year-old serial offender on an ankle monitor has ignited calls for her removal. Newly released transcripts from an August 22, 2025, hearing reveal prosecutors’ explicit pleas that Reed’s next crime would be “likely violent” and “random” – warnings the judge brushed off with a single, incendiary line: “I can’t keep everybody in jail because the State’s Attorney wants me to.” That ruling, defying a risk assessment labeling Reed a “real and present threat” to the community, allowed him to roam free for nearly three months – culminating in the November 17 attack that left the 26-year-old business analyst fighting for her life with burns over 60% of her body.

MaGee’s nightmare unfolded around 8:45 p.m. on a westbound Blue Line in the Loop, a artery of Chicago’s daily commute teeming with professionals unwinding after the grind. Surveillance footage, detailed in a federal affidavit, shows Reed – fresh from filling a plastic bottle with gasoline at a Garfield Park Mobil station 20 minutes prior – boarding at the Kedzie stop. He sidled up behind MaGee, who was absorbed in her phone, her backpack at her feet and earbuds in, oblivious to the shadow approaching. Without warning, Reed dumped the accelerant over her head and shoulders, ignited it with a lighter, and screamed “Burn alive b****!” as flames roared to life, prosecutors say.

The train lurched to a halt at Clark/Lake station amid passenger pandemonium. MaGee, engulfed and screaming, staggered onto the platform, her skin blistering and hair singed, before collapsing in a smoldering heap. A quick-thinking commuter smothered the fire with his coat, while another cradled her head, murmuring prayers as sirens wailed in the distance. Rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s burn unit, she endured hours of emergency debridement and grafting. Updates from her family paint a portrait of resilience amid ruin: “Bethany’s endured more pain in days than most face in lifetimes, but her faith anchors us,” her father, Dr. Gregory MaGee, shared via a Caterpillar spokesperson. Projections call for three months of inpatient care, with risks of infection, nerve loss, and lifelong scarring – a far cry from the Indiana native’s plans for career advancement and weekend hikes with her rescue dog.

Reed’s arrest the next morning, November 18, came without resistance on Washington Street, his clothes reeking of smoke and his right hand blistered from the backlash of his own blaze. Body-cam video captured his chilling echoes in custody: unprompted shouts of “Burn b****!” that mirrored the train taunts, sealing federal terrorism charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2332b. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered him detained without bail on November 21, citing his “propensity for random violence” and flight risk. Reed, representing himself briefly, pleaded for lockdown: “I don’t feel safe out there,” he told the court, a stark pivot from his alleged courtroom bravado of yelling “I plead guilty!” during intake.

Yet, the probe’s glare has swung hardest on Molina-Gonzalez’s August decision, unearthed through Freedom of Information Act requests by outlets like CWB Chicago. Reed faced felony aggravated battery charges after allegedly cold-cocking a social worker unconscious in MacNeal Hospital’s locked psychiatric wing in Berwyn – an outburst born of frustration over a delayed discharge. Assistant State’s Attorney Jerrilyn Gumila presented video evidence of the assault, alongside Reed’s dossier: 72 Cook County arrests since 1993, eight felonies including prior arsons and drug trafficking, and a schizophrenia diagnosis with spotty treatment adherence. A pretrial risk tool scored him high for reoffending violently, prompting Gumila’s plea: “Electronic monitoring could not protect the victim or the community from another vicious, random, and spontaneous attack.”

Molina-Gonzalez, undeterred, opted for an ankle bracelet with a 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekday window – later expanded by Judge Ralph Meczyk to include weekends – and mandated probation check-ins. Her retort to Gumila’s objections? The now-infamous line that has fueled editorials and X rants: “I understand your position, but I can’t keep everybody in jail because the State’s Attorney wants me to.” Defenders, including public defender advocates, framed it as fidelity to Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, the 2023 cashless bail overhaul designed to slash pretrial incarceration by 20% and address racial inequities. “Judges must weigh reform against risk; Reed needed services, not solitary,” one ACLU affiliate told reporters.

But the backlash has been swift and searing. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who first publicly named MaGee on November 23, blasted the ruling on X: “Chicago’s soft judges let a 72-time loser like Reed loose – his ‘likely violent’ next crime? Setting Bethany ablaze. Time to end this revolving door insanity.” The post, viewed over 500,000 times, tagged Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Senate Minority Leader Jim Durkin, urging an ethics probe. Elon Musk piled on: “Judges who prioritize ‘reform’ over lives are complicit in the carnage. Fire her yesterday.” GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. John Cabello, introduced the “MaGee Accountability Act” on November 22, proposing mandatory minimums for judges ignoring violent risk scores and empowering victims’ families to petition for recusal.

Complicating Molina-Gonzalez’s defense: records show Reed violated his monitor repeatedly in the lead-up to the attack. CWB Chicago obtained logs revealing at least five alerts to the Cook County Chief Judge’s office for unauthorized absences – including one on October 15 where he vanished for 18 hours. Staff, per internal memos, lacked authority to pursue warrants: “Personnel are not law enforcement and cannot investigate absconds,” wrote Circuit Court Clerk Bridget O’Neill Burke in a September directive. On November 17, Reed’s device pinged him leaving home at 7:45 p.m. – 15 minutes before curfew – and stayed silent for over 12 hours, during which he allegedly bought gas and boarded the train. Critics slam this as a “notification black hole,” with one former prosecutor telling Fox News: “Warnings went in one ear and out the other – now a woman’s scarred for life.”

The judge, appointed in 2018 by the Illinois Supreme Court after a stint as an assistant public defender, has faced prior scrutiny for lenient rulings in domestic violence cases, per a 2023 Chicago Tribune analysis. Her office declined comment, citing judicial canons, but allies point to caseload pressures: Cook County courts handle 1.2 million filings annually, with pretrial decisions ballooning under SAFE-T. “She’s balancing equity and safety in an imperfect system,” said Chicago Appleseed Fund’s Tio Hardiman, noting Black defendants like Reed comprise 70% of pretrial detainees. A 2024 state audit found SAFE-T reduced jail populations without overall recidivism spikes, but violent outliers like Reed – and the August stabbing of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte – have eroded public trust.

MaGee’s case, echoing Zarutska’s, has galvanized transit advocates. A November 23 rally at Daley Plaza drew 2,000, chanting “No more free passes for felons!” as MaGee’s brothers, Mark and John, shared home videos of her laughing at family barbecues. Caterpillar’s GoFundMe hit $450,000, with donors like Taylor University alumni vowing scholarships in her name. Mayor Brandon Johnson pledged $5 million for CTA safety upgrades – body cams, AI alerts, K-9 sweeps – but riders remain wary. “I clutch my keys like knives now,” one South Loop teacher posted on Reddit’s r/Chicago.

Federal prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, vow a “relentless” case, analyzing gasoline residue and Reed’s phone for intent. His public defender hints at an insanity plea, citing untreated pyromania, but Boutros dismissed it: “Mental illness explains; it doesn’t excuse terrorizing innocents.” Reed’s December 15 hearing looms, but the real trial may be public opinion’s on Molina-Gonzalez. Petitions for her impeachment have 100,000 signatures, and the Illinois Courts Commission announced a review on November 24.

In the sterile hush of MaGee’s recovery room, monitors beep as her family holds vigil, flipping through old photos of a girl who chased dreams from Upland’s cornfields to Chicago’s towers. Reed’s taunts may fade, but Molina-Gonzalez’s words echo: a reminder that in the scales of justice, one tilted decision can tip lives into ashes. As Duffy put it, “Reform without accountability is just a license to kill.” For Bethany – and countless commuters – the fire’s embers demand more than apologies: they demand overhaul.