Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is scheduled to be released from prison Feb. 3 after serving three years, less than half of the nearly seven-year prison sentence he was given in 2019. 

Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald. Some community activists and relatives of McDonald are now calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to bring charges against Van Dyke for violating McDonald’s civil rights.

“The punishment that he received ... does not match the criminal act that he committed on Oct. 20, 2014, and furthermore, there’s individuals in Cook County jail that are spending more time in detention waiting to go to trial than what Jason Van Dyke has spent in the Illinois State Penitentiary," said William Calloway, a community activist who’s been organizing demonstrations and leading the call for federal charges. “This is an injustice, this is a miscarriage of injustice. If he's released we're going to continue to call for federal charges.” 

Several organizations are coming together to send a letter to the Department of Justice, including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

“We all know that 81 months is not enough to fully hold Van Dyke accountable, and we know that there is a movement in this city. That is the reason why Van Dyke is behind bars, so we are reactivating that movement," said Jazmine Salas, with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “We are of course sending the letter to the attorney general as well as to the Department of Justice, not just around the Van Dyke case, but around 49 other cases of police violence and police murders that have occurred in this city.”

Activists are also calling on the Mag Mile Association to stand in solidarity and call for federal charges as well.

“We don't want to be reactive, we don’t want to wait until it's a possible civil unrest, because it’s misplaced anger in the community and the city explodes,” said Calloway. “We want to make sure that the Magnificent Mile uses everything, or does everything, that they can and their influence by using their voice, using the network, using their resources to make sure that the Department of Justice understands that Jason Van Dyke is a hazard to the Black community, and to the community at large and he should not be released, so we’re leaning on them to use their voices.”

Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the death of McDonald. Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, while aggravated battery carries up to 30 years. Under Illinois law, judges can sentence people only for the most serious crime they are convicted of when they are found guilty of multiple crimes for a single act.

In this case, Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan decided to sentence Van Dyke on the second-degree murder conviction, ruling that was the more serious crime. The decision drew some controversy and led to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raul and Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahon to appeal the sentence to the Illinois Supreme Court, but the state court decided to let the sentence stand. 

“The jury found him guilty of each of those 16 shots, a finding for each individual account, so that was hefty and the potential of a very heavy sentence, however, what happens is that those charges merged into what would have been the murder conviction, because the murder conviction was second-degree,” said criminal defense attorney Tony Thedford. “That second-degree murder conviction essentially takes precedent in terms of sentencing, so again, this court found that those charges should merge into the second-degree murder count, thus giving him a maximum sentence of 20 years at 50%. I will say that any defendant in that situation would only serve 50% of their sentence because that in fact is the law in Illinois for a conviction of second-degree murder.”

Activists plan to gather at Federal Plaza on the day of Van Dyke’s scheduled release and deliver a letter to U.S. Attorney John Lausch.

WTTW News reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s office but they declined to comment.