Suspect charged with beating south suburban Chicago man to death has violent record
Michael Protho, the man charged with beating and killing a man in the south Chicago suburb of Oak Forest last week, appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday.
It also turns out that CBS News Chicago interviewed a victim of Protho's in the past.
Protho, 30, stands charged with the murder of Edward Lewis, 53, this past Friday.
Oak Forest police said around noon this past Friday, May 23, Lewis a man later identified as Lewis was found unresponsive in a home in the 15500 block of Long Avenue. A criminal complaint said Protho "made unlawful entry" into Lewis' residence, and "battered Lewis with an unknown object, resulting in his death by blunt force trauma."
In court Tuesday, prosecutors detailed the narcotics found in the home — cannabis and mushrooms. They said the victim, Lewis — who had been living in the home for about a year — had a strong connection to narcotics sales, and Protho was seen leaving the home with large garbage bags.
CBS News Chicago took a closer look at Protho's background, and found reporter Derrick Blakley interviewed a victim of his back in August 2012.
World War II Navy veteran Porter B. Cross, at the time about to turn 88, was robbed and beaten and left on the pavement in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood, while walking home from playing the Lottery.
The robbers smashed his glasses, knocked out his hearing aid, and broke his dentures in the assault. They took Cross' wallet, but it had no money in it. He had about $27 in cash in his pocket, but the robbers did not get that money.
"I don't know what happened," Cross said at the time.
The aftermath of the robbery was caught on camera.
"They hit from behind," Cross said at the time.
Protho, then just 17, was one of two people charged in the attack. He pleaded guilty and received an eight-year prison sentence.
CBS News Chicago found subsequent cases in Protho's record — felony possession of a firearm in 2018, and possession of a firearm with prior convictions and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2019. But those charges were dropped.
Protho will stay behind bars until his next court date.
"There's an interesting legal word for a defendant like this; couple words, actually — career criminal and a recidivist — and he clearly is both," said CBS News Chicago Legal Analyst Irv Miller, "and when a judge is deciding whether to detain a gentleman like this, there's really no hesitation in the part of any judge to lock him up pending trial."
Miller said Protho is looking at a minimum of 20 years in prison, and a possible life sentence depending on the facts of the case.
Oak Forest Police Chief Scott Durano said his department has nothing else to share right now.
Protho will be back in court on Friday, June 13.
