Madeline Buckley

Madeline Buckley is a criminal justice reporter for the Chicago Tribune covering courts and the legal system. She covers courthouses across Cook County but is usually found at "26th and Cal."

People walk into the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Little Village on Feb. 1, 2025. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune)

Authorities searching for defendant who escaped from courthouse

May 5, 2025 at 5:58 p.m.

Authorities are searching for a man who on Monday escaped from the Leighton Criminal Court Building shortly after a judge ordered him detained while awaiting trial, according to the Cook...

Jimmy Soto, shown here while still incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center, earned his bachelor's degree in prison just one month before he was exonerated on Dec. 14, 2023. He spent 42 years behind bars. (Vincent Alban/Reuters)

A life taken and won back: The extraordinary journey of Jimmy Soto

May 5, 2025 at 7:35 a.m.

Imprisoned 42 years for a murder he didn't commit, Jimmy Soto was released from Stateville on Dec. 13, 2023. At the age of 62, he began the formidable work of...

Community members leave flowers in remembrance of Melissa Ortega on Jan. 22, 2023, in front of a memorial off West 26th Street in Little Village following a march one year after the 8-year-old was fatally shot while walking with her mother. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Man sentenced to 20 years in 2022 slaying of 8-year-old Melissa Ortega in Little Village

May 2, 2025 at 12:10 p.m.

A judge on Friday sentenced a man to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to murder in the 2022 slaying of an 8-year-old girl who was shot while...

State Sen. Emil Jones III talks to reporters in the lobby after his bribery trial ended in a mistrial at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on April 24, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Mistrial declared in federal bribery trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III after jury deadlocks on all three counts

April 24, 2025 at 7:16 p.m.

The corruption trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III ended with a mistrial Thursday, with the jury unable to find agreement on any of the three counts in the case,...

Illinois State Sen. Emil Jones III makes a thumbs-up gesture as he leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on April 23, 2025, after another day of deliberation in his federal bribery trial. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Jury tells judge they cannot agree on any counts in bribery trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III

April 24, 2025 at 5:15 p.m.

After note warning of an impasse, judge tells jury in trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III a deadlock would be premature at this point in their talks and to...

State Sen. Emil Jones III exits after his bribery trial at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, April 16, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Bribery vs. entrapment: Jury deliberating in trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III

April 21, 2025 at 6:34 p.m.

The jury in the federal bribery trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III has begun its deliberations.

A police dog sniffs newly arriving detainees in an underground tunnel at Cook County Jail in Chicago on April 16, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

With Cook County Jail’s population again on the rise, officials weigh the reasons

April 20, 2025 at 6:55 p.m.

After a decline following statewide bail reform — and years of reductions prior to that — the county’s jail population has begun to tick up once again.

Family members of Nurmuhammed Inus, 35, leave the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on April 15, 2025. Inus is charged in the fatal stabbing of his 29-year-old wife in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, Chicago police said. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

‘He tells her she is going to die’: Judge orders detention for Lincoln Square man accused of stabbing wife

April 15, 2025 at 8:06 p.m.

Nurmuhammed Inus was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Mairunnisa B. Osman, police said.

An image of Natalia Wallace on her gravestone at Glen Oaks Cemetery in Hillside, is seen on July 1, 2021. (Antonio Perez/ Chicago Tribune)

Man acquitted in shooting death of 7-year-old Natalia Wallace on Fourth of July 2020

April 14, 2025 at 2:26 p.m.

A Cook County jury on Friday acquitted a man of shooting and killing 7-year-old Natalia Wallace, making him the second defendant to be found not guilty in the slaying on...

Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot greets people before Eileen O’Neill Burke is ceremoniously sworn in as the new Cook County state’s attorney on Dec. 2, 2024. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Man found guilty in death threat against former Mayor Lori Lightfoot

April 10, 2025 at 4:13 p.m.

A Cook County judge on Thursday found a man guilty of threatening then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who last month testified that receiving the profane and racist missive was traumatizing to her...

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