Lashawn L. Wilks

Lashawn L. Wilks, 31, of Centralia, IL was charged by federal complaint with unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person after multiple sources reported he had guns at a May 23, 2020 house party and threatened to "kill a cop." After George Floyd's death he allegedly posted on Facebook threatening violence to police. On June 2, 2020 law enforcement learned he was discussing plans to organize a protest and cause a riot in Centralia, with a list of officers to shoot. A federal search of his residence found a 9mm pistol, a rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun. Charges later dropped.

The Seventh Circuit’s October 12, 2021 opinion reversed and remanded the revocation of Wilks’s pretrial release because the district court had not made the statutory findings supporting detention. It expressly declined to order his immediate release or decide the remand’s merits. The opinion explains that the original firearm count was carried into a September 2020 superseding drug indictment and the stand-alone firearm case closed, a procedural consolidation that did not itself decide guilt. It also states that Wilks was not a suspect in the July 4 bar homicide. Home confinement and the bar visit are not counted as prison time, and this appeal supplies no exact physical release date. Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca7-21-02559/pdf/USCOURTS-ca7-21-02559-0.pdf#page=11