The final defendant to go on trial in the videotaped beating death of Fenger High School sophomore Derrion Albert was portrayed by his lawyer today as “a good kid who did a horrible thing” when he kicked Albert while he was already injured on the ground.
In his opening statement to a Cook County jury, attorney Michael Clancy told the jury that what Lapoleon Colbert is seen doing on the infamous videotape was not murder.
It’s horrible, it’s probably in some instances illegal, but it’s not the indictment he’s charged with here today,” Clancy said.
Colbert, now 20, was part of a group of teens caught on videotape beating, kicking and stomping Albert during a September 2009 melee between Fenger students from the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex and rival students from “The Ville” neighborhood near the school.
The tape, which has been the focus in previous trials and led to the convictions of four co-defendants, was played for the jury of 11 women and 1 man late this morning. Albert’s mother, Anjanette, left the courtroom in tears while the jury watched intently, some taking notes.
Clancy sought to minimize Colbert’s role in the beating, saying he was walking with a girlfriend that day and got caught up in the melee when he went back to look for her little brother. He also painted Albert as an aggressor, who joined other “Ville” kids in trying to chase the students from Altgeld Gardens out of their neighborhood.
“Derrion Albert went over there for one reason: to terrorize kids from the Garden,” said Clancy.
Prosecutors said there “is no legal justification whatsoever” for Colbert’s actions.
“He comes over as Derrion Albert is laying on the ground, walks over and kicks him in the head, then jumps on his head,” Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa Morrison said in her opening statement.
Three others – including two charged as adults and one juvenile – were convicted of murder by a jury, while a fourth defendant pleaded guilty to murder.
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