The attorney for an escaped bank robber recaptured Thursday night said his client is not a violent man and never threatened the federal judge at his robbery trial last week.
Beau Brindley said comments made by Joseph "Jose" Banks, 37, were taken out of context, and when Banks told the judge "you will hear from me," Brindley said he meant he would be getting paperwork related to post-trial motions.
Banks, one of two bank robbers who escaped from a high-rise Chicago prison earlier this week, was arrested Thursday night after almost three days on the run.
Banks was caught around 11:30 p.m. in the 2300 block of North Bosworth in Lincoln Park, police said. The FBI and Chicago Police swarmed the block and took Banks into custody without incident.
A neighbor who saw the capture go down said there were at least 10 police cars along the block.
"When they brought him out, he had on his gym shorts, a white T-shirt and his boots, like he was just in there chilling," witness Raven Beck said.
Banks was convicted last week of stealing more than $600,000 during armed robberies. He escaped the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Tuesday with cellmate Kenneth Conley, 38, who remains at large.
Investigators said the pair used a rope made from bed sheets and other linens to rappel down the side of the building from the cell at the federal jail in the Loop. When authorities found Banks and Conley missing, they discovered metal window bars in a bed mattress and fake bars inside the cell.
The FBI said surveillance video of the escape shows the men getting into a cab. Authorities suspected the escapees were in Tinley Park Tuesday morning but up until now there was no word on their location.
The Chicago office of the FBI announced a $50,000 reward Wednesday for information leading to the apprehension of the men.
Officials continue looking for Conley. The two men originally were believed to be together.
Banks appeared in court Friday morning. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
