A man who had been on parole for murder was found guilty late Thursday in the fatal shooting of an elderly man he was trying to rob in a restaurant parking lot on Christmas Eve two years ago.
A Cook County jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before convicting Lee Cration, 49, of first-degree murder in the December 24, 2009, slaying of Ralph Elliott at the Popeye's restaurant at 818 E. 47th St., in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood.
Elliott, 79, had just finished putting up his Christmas tree and gone to the restaurant to pick up food that he and his wife of 54 years, Dolores, had ordered for their annual Christmas Eve party.
According to trial testimony and police reports, Ralph Elliott had loaded the food into his car at about 4 p.m. when a man dressed in a black trench coat walked up and shot him in the face and chest, then rifled through his pockets looking for valuables.
Based on witness descriptions, Cration was arrested less than five minutes later at 47th Street and Drexel Boulevard, about a block from the murder scene. Authorities said a revolver found in his bag matched the one used in the shooting, and several witnesses identified him as the gunman.
At the time of the slaying, Cration had been on parole for about a year after serving most of a 28-year sentence for a 1984 murder. He was still on the streets despite an active warrant for his arrest that had been issued because of repeated failures to comply with the conditions of his parole, authorities said.
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