Kane County Reporter

The Daily Herald reports the family of Manuel Porties Jr. is now “planning on retaining an attorney,” after the Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has declined to press murder charges against the  17-year-old suspected of stabbing him to death.

Schaumburg Police said officers responded to a call of two people fighting on the 600 block of Sturnbridge Lane on the evening of Sept. 27 to find the unarmed Porties Jr., 18, suffering from multiple stab wounds. He later died at Amita Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.

Despite police recommending a murder charge, county prosecutors made the decision to charge the suspect with a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of weapon. He is no longer in custody.  

"The Cook County State's Attorney's Office is committed to the work of justice, and we are open to reviewing any new information that is brought to us by the Schaumburg PD," chief communications officer Tandra Simonton told the Daily Herald.

As the department has stood by its recommendation, Manuel Porties Sr. and his family have only seen the frustration and anger grow.

"It doesn't make sense," Porties Sr. said. "It was murder. It wasn't self-defense. My son never swung. He never had a chance to fight."

In a video of the incident that led to the stabbing, Porties Jr. can be seen being punched in the face and falling to the ground. It then shows the suspect stabbing him in the neck as he was still down.

Family members said prosecutors told them they decided not to file more serious charges due to “mutual combat.”

Porties Sr. hinted he feels victimized all over again.  

“They’re saying that it’s mutual combat," he told WGN.com. "How is it mutual combat when my son didn’t have anything to combat with. The only thing he had was his two hands. He stood over my son and finished him, and that’s not murder?”

Protesters recently showed up outside Foxx’s office to voice their outrage to felony charges being rejected.

“Kim Foxx, you need to step up!” Porties’ grandfather, Jackie Smith, said outside the George Dunne Cook County Office Building. “My grandson – he was 18 years old. His name was Manuel Porties – stabbed to death in a fist fight. And Kim Foxx is sweeping it under the rug. We need justice.”