E2 Owners To Be Re-sentenced

Dwain Kyles and Calvin Hollins were found guilty in 2009 of violating a judge’s order to close the club’s second floor before the tragic incident.

Both received two-year prison sentences. But the appeals court found the Cook County judge who sentenced the owners had “improperly relied” on the deaths and injuries in handing down his sentence, since the men did not directly cause the stampede, according to court documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

“The release of pepper spray to break up a fight was completely unrelated to respondents’ violation of the building court’s order,” the appellate court wrote. “It was a supervening act that relieved them of legal responsibility.”

An attorney for the men told the Tribune this is the third time a judge has ruled the E2’s building code violation was not the cause of the stampede.