Drug dealer guilty of killing Chicago police officer

A Cook County jury today convicted a reputed drug dealer of fatally shooting Chicago police Officer Nathaniel Taylor in September 2008 as the officer tried to serve him a search warrant.
The jury deliberated just about two hours before finding Lamar Cooper, 40, guilty of first-degree murder for Taylor’s slaying outside Cooper’s home in the 7900 block of South Clyde Avenue.
Cooper's attorneys did not deny that their client sold drugs or that he shot Taylor but argued he did not know Taylor was a police officer and fired in self-defense in what he thought was an armed robbery.
Cooper faces a possible life sentence. Earlier today, in closing arguments before a courtroom packed with hundreds of police officers and other spectators, prosecutors said the reputed drug kingpin fatally shot Taylor as he tried to serve a search warrant because he saw the police as the enemy and was bent on staying out of jail.
Prosecutors said the suspect shot Taylor in the head and chest in an “ambush” as the officer approached Cooper in his car outside his home.
Cooper's attorneys argued that on the darkened street that early-Sunday morning, their client did not realize the plainclothes Taylor was a police officer and fired in self-defense in what he thought was an armed robbery.
“As a drug dealer in the streets of Chicago, he knew his life was always one step away from being over because people wanted his money or his turf or both,” Assistant Public Defender LaFarrell Moffett told jurors.
Assistant State’s Attorney James McKay ridiculed that theory in his rebuttal argument, saying it was “in the job description” of any successful drug dealer to know how police operate, including that narcotics officers often wear street clothes.
McKay said that even if Cooper did not see Taylor’s police star around his neck, he could have just driven away, called 911 or fired a warning shot if he thought he was about to be robbed.
“This was a sneak attack by this drug dealer on one of our heroes,” McKay said, walking over to the defense table and pointing at Cooper, who kept his eyes down and scribbled notes on a pad. “He didn’t want to go to jail. It’s real simple. It’s what criminals think about every day.
Added benches were brought into Judge Nicholas Ford’s courtroom to try to accommodate the overflow crowd trying to hear the closing arguments. Ford allowed the courtroom doors to remain open so dozens more police officers could hear the lawyers. Chicago police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez sat in the front row.
In his argument, Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Sexton asked jurors to reject the notion that Cooper was somehow a victim. He held up evidence found in Cooper’s heavily fortified home, including loaded guns, police scanners, a bulletproof vest, cash and bag of cocaine found in a basement freezer, right next to a box of children’s popsicles.
“Not only is he a drug dealer, he is a successful drug dealer,” Sexton said. “Why? Because he knows his enemy... He knows the police.”