‘Dread Head Cowboy’ gets 90 days in jail on contempt charge
Adam Hollingsworth, the activist known as the “Dread Head Cowboy,” was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail on a contempt charge for arguing with a Cook County judge.
The contempt charge came a day after Hollingsworth, who is representing himself in his animal cruelty case, had repeatedly talked over Judge Michael McHale and made claims that prosecutors were holding back evidence.
Hollingsworth was led out of the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies to the holding cell in McHale’s chambers, leaving his black Stetson on a table. After an hour in chambers, McHale recalled the case and handed Hollingsworth the 90-day sentence.
“You have made a mockery of these proceedings,” McHale said after rattling off incidents where Hollingsworth had made unsubstantiated claims or disrupted court since he was arrested for the horseback ride he took in 2020 on the Dan Ryan Expressway to raise awareness about violence against youth.
“You have tried to do that, and you’ve succeeded.”
At the end of a status hearing Monday, McHale ordered Hollingsworth to return to court with a flash drive prosecutors had turned over to him.
Tuesday, Hollingsworth claimed a dog ate the flash drive and repeatedly interrupted the judge.
“We are not going to do this the way we’ve been doing it the past year and a half,” McHale had warned Hollingsworth, telling him he’d be held in contempt of court if he interrupted him three times.
Assistant State’s Attorney Christina Dracopoulos said prosecutors had turned over all files in the case to Hollingsworth on “several” occasions and had sent him an online link to the same files Monday. Hollingsworth conceded he had not downloaded those files.