A Chicago man was sentenced to 60 years in prison today in the murder of a 10-year-old boy who was caught in gang crossfire while walking with friends to a South Side candy store.
Lesean Jackson, 21, was convicted in a bench trial last month of first-degree murder in the slaying of Arthur Jones in October 2007 in the 800 block of West Garfield Boulevard.
Jackson, of the 5100 block of South Union Avenue, was one of several Black P Stone gang members who had fought with rival Gangster Disciples earlier in the day and then returned to even the score, police said.
Arthur, who went by the nickname "AJ," was heading to a store nearby with his best friend after school to buy candy and soda when he heard shots ring out and tried to run, according to witnesses. He was shot in the neck and died later at a hospital.
Arthur’s mother, Rita Perez, read a victim-impact statement to the court on Thursday, saying the pain of his death still is “deep inside my guts.”
“He was the most caring, loving and the funniest person anyone would like to know,” she said. “Not having him in my life is so sad. Missing his smile and his touch is unbearable.”
Perez said she has been left wondering why gang violence took her son when she tried so hard to keep him safe from it.
“I tried so hard to be the best mother I could be –- I know that his death has nothing to do with me,” she said. “It all has to do with your evil and selfishness.”
The fellow gang member who passed Jackson the gun, Steven McCaskill, pleaded guilty to murder in October 2010 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, records show.
Judge Maura Slattery-Boyle is scheduled to announce a verdict for a third defendant, Clarence Williams
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