Two witnesses who saw banking executive Russell Long fatally punched on the Magnificent Mile in 2023 testified Monday that the shocking attack was unprovoked.
Eric Arrigo, 28, and Andrew Meza, 29, who were roommates at the time, testified at the bench trial of defendant Henry Graham that they saw Graham race up behind Long and punch him in the back of his head as he walked near Michigan Avenue and Ontario Street on a sunny afternoon on June 29, 2023.
Graham, 52, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for killing Long, who died of massive brain injuries at Northwestern Memorial Hospital 13 days later. His bench trial before Cook County Circuit Judge Charles P. Burns continues Tuesday.
Graham’s case was profiled in a Chicago Sun-Times series last year, “Failure to treat, failure to protect,” about people with untreated severe mental illness who cycle in and out of jails, prisons and hospitals.
In his opening statement, law student Jake Balderas, assisting Cook County Assistant Public Defender Celeste Addyman, tipped the defense strategy in admitting that “it’s no secret that Mr. Graham punched Mr. Long.”
But Balderas said that Graham couldn’t have thought one punch would kill.
“He lacked the required mental state for first-degree murder,” Balderas said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Brady said Graham struck Long “without provocation, without warning” and that Graham caused great bodily harm and “he did so knowingly.”
Arrigo and Meza testified that Long, a vice president at Northern Trust, was walking toward them, carrying a shopping bag, and hadn’t interacted with Graham. After being struck from behind, Long pitched forward and fell face-first.
“His body went limp, his eyes shut and he immediately tipped over,” Arrigo said. “His face slammed on the concrete.”
Both men said Long was barely conscious and bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose.
Arrigo called 911. Before the ambulance arrived, two Northwestern nurses who happened to be nearby rushed over to help.
The witnesses testified that Graham sat down on a nearby fire hydrant and watched. As the ambulance arrived, Graham got up and walked south on Michigan Avenue, and the roommates and two other bystanders followed. They flagged down a patrol car parked in the 500 block of North Michigan Avenue and told police that a man had been punched and seriously injured.
Just then Graham came over to the cops himself and admitted striking Long, though he claimed that Long had run into him first.
Officer Victor Creed testified that Graham “was angry” and “repetitively made statements about the O.J. Simpson case … O.J. had been freed and he would be freed.”
Body-worn camera video played in court showed another police officer, a block north at the attack scene, asking Long, who was bleeding and bandaged on a stretcher in an ambulance, if Long would like to press charges. Long mumbles something that Officer Manuel Soto testified he couldn’t hear, but which his partner told him was a negative response.
So the other police holding Graham a block south let him go.
Graham continued roaming the streets for the next three months and, authorities say, attacked several other people.
Four officers working the day Long was attacked ended up being disciplined for violating department rules and served suspensions ranging from one to five days.
An investigation didn’t begin in earnest until July 2 after Long’s loved ones complained.
Graham was arrested Oct. 25 while in the Cook County Jail on another charge.
The prosecution played an extended video clip of Graham being interviewed by police. Graham, raising his voice and using profanity multiple times, claims that Long “ran into me.”
“I turned around and said, ‘What the f—‘ … I hit him,” Graham said on the video.
For most of the trial Monday, Graham, sitting at the defense table dressed in a khaki jail uniform, kept his hands folded and looked straight ahead.
Records show that for years, Graham had bounced between Chicago, Evanston and South Bend, Indiana, moving between homeless shelters, jails, prisons and hospitals. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a chronic condition in which people experience reality in an abnormal way.
Graham had racked up 20 criminal charges for such things as punching or kicking people since 2010 and was convicted of two felonies and seven misdemeanors, records show.
Long lived in a high-rise building overlooking the Chicago River. Friends described the University of Illinois alum as down-to-earth with a fine-tuned sense of humor. Long also was a music fan and enjoyed seeing local bands performing live.
Long’s brother, Dan Long, 57, who lives in Arizona, testified that his brother had been “in great health” before the attack.
Contributing: Frank Main