A Chicago judge is facing growing backlash after she freed a career criminal with 72 arrests to his name just weeks before he allegedly set a woman on fire on a train.

Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez freed accused arson attacker Lawrence Reed, 50, in a separate case in August despite warnings that he posed a danger to the public.

Reed faced Molina-Gonzalez on August 22 on a felony aggravated battery charge, accused of slapping a social worker so hard she was knocked unconscious inside a psychiatric ward at MacNeal Hospital.

Prosecutor Jerrilyn Gumila told the judge at the time that Reed needed to remain in custody and argued that electronic monitoring was ‘wholly insufficient’ to protect the public.

‘It could not protect the victim or the community from another vicious, random, and spontaneous attacks,’ she told the judge, according to CWB Chicago.

Gumila’s warnings allegedly proved true, as just weeks later, Reed was accused of dousing Chicago resident Bethany Magee, 26, in gasoline and setting her alight on a train on November 17.

The shocking attack and Reed’s lengthy rap sheet sparked outrage online, with Elon Musk leading criticisms of Molina-Gonzalez.

‘It is incredibly cruel of so many judges to push murderous thugs on the innocent public!’ Musk said on X. ‘And double shame on anyone who funds them to do so.’

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Other X users also shared footage of a speech the judge gave at a Hispanic Heritage Month event, where she said she enjoyed her previous role as a prosecutor because she had a ‘chance to decide’ what cases were prosecuted, as she often faced ‘defendants who looked like me.’

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Reed has been arrested over 70 times and has had multiple felony convictions over the last three decades – including a 2020 arson conviction for setting a fire outside a building in Chicago.

According to court transcripts, Molina-Gonzalez resisted prosecutors’ urging to keep Reed in custody.

The judge told prosecutors as she released him in August: ‘I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to.’

At that hearing, Gumila said that when Reed allegedly knocked out a social worker in the hospital psychiatric ward, he was seen on surveillance video flying into a frenzy at random.

She said he ‘became irate and slapped the victim in the face with an open palm.’

‘Her vision went black, and she lost consciousness for several seconds. One of the victim’s co-workers rushed over and helped the victim walk down to her office, and the victim was then taken to the emergency room,’ the prosecutor said.

Gumila said the victim suffered a cut to the cornea of her eye, a concussion, memory loss, a chipped tooth, and possible optic nerve bruising.

Despite running through Reed’s lengthy rap sheet, and warning that he ‘poses a real and present threat’ to society, the judge set him free with just electronic monitoring.

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Surveillance footage showed MaGee sitting in the train car before Reed, a complete stranger, allegedly poured gasoline over her head and body.

In a horrifying chain of events, MaGee attempted to fight off her attacker while Reed allegedly tried to set her on fire.

Reed approached MaGee and repeatedly yelled ‘burn alive b***h,’ a criminal affidavit filed in federal court alleged.

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[Editor’s Note: This is the judge.]

The post Growing Fury at Chicago Judge Who Freed Career Criminal With 72 Arrests and Is Now Accused of Setting Woman Alight appeared first on American Renaissance.