Man gets 50 years in 2009 road rage murder

A Cook County judge has sentenced a man to 50 years in prison in the 2009 road rage shooting death of a Burbank man.
Mikel Pernell, 34, was found guilty in September of killing George Cruz, 30, on Sept. 18, 2009, after Cruz accidentally cut him off in traffic near 105th Street and Hoxie Avenue, and was sentenced Wednesday by Cook County Criminal Court Judge Carol Howard.
A warrant was issued for his arrest two months after the slaying, and Pernell was arrested a day later on the street in the 6400 block of South Seeley Avenue.
Cruz was headed north on Torrence Avenue when he changed lanes to turn left onto 105 th Street, accidentally cutting off Pernell about 11 a.m. Sept. 18, 2009.
Pernell drove up next to the passenger side of Cruz’s car, while yelling at him. Cruz apologized and told Pernell about trying to turn onto 105 th Street, and Pernell then drove off and parked at 105th and Hoxie.
Cruz drove up and stopped near Pernell, who then pointed a gun out his car window and shot Cruz through his windshield, hitting him in the left eye.
Cruz was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital, where was pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m. that morning.

Former bus driver gets 34 years in death of woman, unrelated sex abuse cases

A former tour bus driver who had cocaine in his system when he struck and killed a 26-year-old woman walking in downtown Chicago in 2011 was sentenced to 34 years in prison after pleading guilty today to aggravated DUI and charges in two unrelated child sex-abuse cases.
David Soto pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI as well as aggravated criminal sexual abuse and predatory sexual abuse counts.
He must serve 85 percent of the 34-year prison sentence.
Justyna Palka, an artist and graphic designer, was walking across the intersection of Illinois Street and Columbus Drive in the Streeterville neighborhood on her way home from her job at the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather on May 3, 2011.
Soto, at the time a Pontarelli Group Charter bus driver, said he didn't see her.
Video surveillance images showed that Palka was walking in the crosswalk with a green light when the driver made a right turn and ran her over

Man gets 95 years in '09 robbery, shooting on West Side

It's tough to own a liquor store on the West side of Chicago

A 30-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to 95 years in prison for a 2009 armed-robbery that left a man shot, and a 16-year-old with a bullet lodged near his spine.
Prosecutors said the night of May 2, 2009, Regalardo Smith approached two people as they were walking to their car on the 3500 block of West Roosevelt Road. The two had just closed the store where they were employed.
Smith pulled out a gun and reached into the vehicle where one of them was sitting and demanded money. He then grabbed a bag from the victim and took the money that was inside of it.
A 16-year-old who was in the passenger seat began to struggle with Smith, and Smith fired three times striking the teen in the legs and abdomen. When the gun went off, it also nicked another victim in the leg. That victim was able to wrestle the gun away from Smith.
Smith fled the scene but was caught by police a short time later with the money in his possession.
The teen suffered several serious injuries and underwent multiple surgeries for a bullet lodged less than an inch from his spinal cord.
Smith was later convicted of armed robbery, aggravated battery with a firearm, vehicular invasion and armed violence.

Fugitive captured after 15 years is sentenced for 1996 murder

Onetime fugitive Giovanni Spiller, who was captured last year after 15 years on the lam, was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for the 1996 gun slaying of a former friend outside a Northwest Side pool hall.
FBI agents arrested Spiller, 67, in California after a person who knew his whereabouts read a Tribune story about the unresolved case and contacted Chicago police and the FBI.
Spiller's story is in many ways emblematic of the criminal justice breakdowns highlighted by the Tribune's 2011 "Fugitives from justice" series, which documented how thousands of suspects have crossed a U.S. border to evade trial on murder, rape and other felony charges.
A witness at Spiller's recent trial recounted watching him shoot Roberto "Bobby" Castillo with a .45-caliber pistol outside Marie's Golden Cue at 3241 W. Montrose Ave., then pump three more bullets into Castillo's body as he lay on the ground.
Spiller surrendered to Chicago detectives but fled the city after posting a low bond. Three years later he was found in the Philippines, but an extradition effort stalled in that country. The manhunt drifted for years despite clues that suggested he had returned to the U.S. and had ties to a property in Hemet, Calif.

Man gets life for sexual assault, killing of girlfriend's baby

A man who sexually assaulted then beat his girlfriend's 1-year-old daughter to death was sentenced today to life in prison plus 30 years, officials said.
Henry Myles, 32, was convicted in June of first-degree murder and predatory criminal sexual assault in the death of his girlfriend's daughter, Promise Hodges. Promise was a year old when she was killed in December of 2008, according to a press release from the Cook County State's Attorney's office and records.
On Christmas Eve of 2008, police were called to an apartment on the 7100 block of South Champlain Avenue for an injured child, police said. When officers arrived they found an unresponsive child who was taken to Comer Children's Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Promise was left at the apartment in the care of Myles the day before. At the time, the toddler's mother lived at the apartment with Myles and his relatives.
While watching over the baby, Myles became enraged when the girl wet herself and vomited. He severely beat the child then sexually assaulted her. Promise suffered a lacerated liver, hemorrhaging  to her organs, swelling to her brain and trauma to her vagina and anus as a result of the attack.
An autopsy revealed Promise died from multiple injuries from abuse including blunt trauma.
Myles, had been taken into custody after Promise's death for a parole violation on a drug conviction. He was charged in March of 2009 in connection with her death.
Cook County Judge Kenneth Wadas sentenced Myles today to natural life plus 30 years for the sexual assault

Woman gets 45 years for murder of boyfriend set on fire

A Chicago woman received a 45-year prison sentence Monday for killing her boyfriend by soaking him with gasoline, which then caused a fire that burned him over 75 percent of his body.
Allan Penny, 61, died July 24, 2010, after having been burned on July 2, 2010, in the apartment he shared with Sherry Ann Hartison, now 45, in the 3100 block of West Washington Boulevard in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. A jury convicted Hartison of first-degree murder last month .
Hartison had a history of frequently threatening Penny, who received a monthly disability check, if he did not give her money.
“In the past she had poured hot water and grease on him, beat him, and used an aerosol can and lighter to make a blowtorch … to scare him,” prosecutors said in the release.
In the attack that ended Penny’s life, about 3 p.m. July 2, 2010, Hartison, who had “become enraged about the money” doused Penny with gasoline, then closed and locked the apartment door when he tried to escape.
Gasoline fumes ignited, setting Penny and the couple’s apartment on fire, and Hartison ran away, with Penny on the floor in the apartment. A neighbor who heard Penny screaming rushed into the apartment, poured water on him, wrapped him in a blacnket and carried him out to the building’s front porch.
Before he was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital for treatment, Penny identified Hartison as his attacker.
After Penny died, the Cook County medical examiner’s office determined he died from sepsis and pneumonia brought on by the injuries he suffered in the fire.

Man pleads guilty, gets 5 years in DUI death of SW Side woman

A Burbank man pleaded guilty today in a crash that killed a 56-year-old grandmother of a dozen children last fall and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Jesus Luna, 52, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence in an accident that resulted in the death of Judith Bramwell .
Bramwell, of the 5700 block of South St. Louis Avenue, had parked her car on 65 th Street near Pulaski Road and was walking around her car to get to the driver’s door when Luna came driving south on Pulaski on September 22, 2012 about 2 a.m., Simonton said, citing a police report from the time of the accident.
Luna’s vehicle hit Bramwell’s car on the rear left panel, then hit Bramwell, traveled a little farther south and jumped a curb, Simonton said. His vehicle finally came to rest after it crashed into a building.
After he was arrested, Luna was found to have had a .171 blood-alcohol content level.
Bramwell was declared dead at 11:25 p.m. the day of the accident, after being hospitalized at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
Bramwell was the mother of five and grandmother of a dozen

Life sentence for cable man guilty of killing woman during service call

A former cable repairman who was convicted of raping and killing a woman after gaining entry to her Chicago home on a service call was sentenced today to life in prison.
Anthony Triplett, who still faces trial for the rape and murder of a second woman, wiped tears from his eyes as he denied wrongdoing before Cook County Judge Kevin Sheehan imposed the maximum sentence possible.
“I’m not a murderer, I’m not a rapist,” said Triplett, who was a technician for Premier Cable Communication, a Comcast subcontractor. “I don’t hurt women. I never have, I never will.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Sexton said Triplett’s crimes “represent every woman’s nightmare.”
"If any case is crying out to you for natural life in prison, this is it," he said. "These were truly innocent victims."
The judge noted that Triplett used his job as a way to gain entry to the Southwest Side home of Urszula Sakowska and then rape and strangle her in 2006.
“You diabolically employed those advantages to gain access to the home of an unsuspecting Polish immigrant," Sheehan said.
Jurors saw through his "wicked web of lies," the judge said.
Prosecutors intend to still try Triplett for the rape and murder of Janice Ordidge in her Hyde Park residence seven weeks before Sakowska’s death. Both bodies were found in bathtubs

Man guilty of recording sex assaults on toddlers

A 29-year-old traveling carnival worker from Chicago pleaded guilty today to video recording his repeated sexual assaults on two toddlers he was babysitting.
Wilfredo Elias, 29, was sentenced to 41 years in prison after pleading guilty to predatory criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault and sexual assault
The attacks took place multiple times in 2011 when Elias was babysitting the children, who were 2 and 3 years old at the time.
Elias had video recorded several of the sexual assaults and stored the images on a storage device, prosecutors said, and police were called when the images were discovered by a family member.
After Cook County authorities obtained an arrest warrant Elias was taken into custody last September in Missouri while traveling with a carnival. He was extradited and has been held in Chicago without bail.
Under Illinois law, Elias will be required to serve 85 percent of the total 41 year sentence.

Man gets 50 years for shooting man over cell phone

A Chicago man was sentenced to 50 years in prison for trying to kill a man who he suspected of stealing a cell phone after a party in the North Lawndale neighborhood.
Frank Jemison was convicted of the Sept. 14, 2008 shooting of a man at a party on the 1400 block of South Ridgeway Avenue.
Jemison was at the home of a friend when they confronted the victim, the man's brother and a friend for stealing a cell phone.
The victim and the other people were in the process of leaving shortly after arriving when Jemison and others began yelling at them.
Jemison and several others from the party followed the three people to their car. They then confronted the people about the phone.
Jemison shot the victim twice, once in the leg and once in the buttocks. The victim’s brother picked the victim up and dragged him down the street while Jemison continued to shoot while running in the opposite direction. 
Jemison was arrested a few weeks later on an unrelated charge and was later identified by the victim, his brother and the friend in line ups.
Jemison was convicted by a jury on December 6, 2012 for attempted murder and sentenced on Feb. 7 by Cook County Judge Mary Colleen Roberts to 50 years.

Latin Kings leader gets 40 years in prison

A man who authorities said was second in command of one of the country's largest street gangs has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for organizing a violent criminal enterprise that plagued neighborhoods in Chicago and beyond.
Vicente Garcia Jr., 35, was convicted in 2011 of racketeering conspiracy and other charges related to drug trafficking and murder after federal prosecutors alleged he oversaw the activities of some 10,000 Latin Kings members in Illinois.
 He will have to spend at least 85 percent of his 40-year sentence in custody.
Garcia’s sentence comes a month after Augustin “Tino” Zambrano, considered the highest-ranking Latin King in the country, was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Garcia, who was called the “Supreme Regional Inca” of the Almighty Latin King Nation, along with Zambrano and others, were convicted in April 2011 of using murder and other acts of violence to protect their gang’s drug trafficking enterprise.
“This sentence holds Garcia accountable for the barbaric enterprise known as the Latin Kings and his role in murder, attempted murder, shootings, beatings, drug trafficking, and other crimes,” U.S. Attorney Gary S. Shapiro said in a statement.
Prosecutors alleged the Latin Kings originated in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, but later started branches in other states. Gang leaders outside of Illinois followed rules set by the Chicago operation.
An FBI investigation of the gang led to charges against 40 Latin King members and associates in 2008. Alphonso Chavez, 26, the alleged leader of the gang's 31st Street crew was sentenced to 30 years in prison; Jose Guzman, 34, a “National Enforcer” in Little Village was sentenced to 35 years in prison

Man gets life sentence for 2006 murder of federal informant

A Chicago man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of the murder of a federal informant.
Spencer Martin, 35, had been convicted by a jury last month of the killing of Earl Willis, who had been serving as a federal informant.
Martin was sentenced on Thursday during a court hearing at the George Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago.
Willis' body was found on May 12, 2006 in his vehicle near 72nd Street and Indiana Avenue. He had last been seen on February 4, 2006 and was reported missing two days later.
When his body was found, officials determined that he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Officials determined that Willis had been shot by the same gun as two earlier shootings that had also been committed by Martin.
The first shooting happened on Jan. 14, 2006 near 68th Street and Ashland Avenue and wounded two people who did not know Martin.
Firearms evidence collected from that scene was later matched to the same gun which Martin used in a shooting on Feb. 4, 2006. That shooting happened at a gas station in the 700 block of West Lawrence Avenue and was captured on videotape. Willis was driving his van and was with Martin. A video showed Martin getting out of the van and trying to rob then shooting a victim.
Martin and Willis then fled the area in the van and the victim, who survived later identified both Martin and Willis from photos.
According to prosecutors this was the last time Willis was seen alive. Firearm evidence from the gas station linked the gun used in that shooting to the January shooting near 68th Street and Ashland Avenue. The victims of that shooting picked out Martin as the triggerman.
Willis' body was later found in his van on the 7200 block of South Indiana Avenue. Firearms evidence linked Wills' fatal shooting to the previous shootings. Investigators also found an open bottle of liquor which had Martin's DNA in a pocket of a coat used to cover Willis' remains.
On Thursday Cook County Judge Steven Goebel sentenced Martin to natural life plus 60 years in prison.
Martin had previously been convicted of attempted murder and armed robbery and received 24 years in prison for the shooting on the 700 block of West Lawrence. He also had been convicted and sentenced to 110 years in prison for the shootings near 68th and Ashland

Convicted pimp sentenced to 50 years in prison

A convicted pimp was sentenced to 50 years in prison today for using violence and threats to force underage girls and vulnerable women to “walk a track” – slang for working as prostitutes on West Side streets.
The sentence was believed to be the harshest penalty ever handed down to a convicted sex trafficker in Chicago’s federal court.
According to prosecutors, Datqunn Sawyer will be 74 before he is released from federal prison.
A federal jury convicted him in November of sex trafficking charges.
Prosecutors said he victimized women and girls who were homeless, runaways or mentally ill. He enticed them with false promises of love but then quickly turned violent to keep them under his control.
One victim was only 12, and another still carried a teddy bear with her at times.
Three of the victims testified at the sentencing, recounting the physical and emotional abuse.
The woman who was forced into prostitution at 12 is now 19. Another who spoke had a child by Sawyer.
Sawyer cried as he told the judge he never knew some of the victims were underage. His supporters blamed the victims for Sawyer’s troubles

40 years for man shot more than 20 times after he fired shots at Police Officers

A former railroad police officer who was shot more than two dozen times during a shootout with police in 2005 was sentenced to 40 years in prison today.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Clayton Crane at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse.
Howard Morgan was charged in 2005 with four counts of attempted murder, after shooting at four police officers during an early morning traffic stop in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side. Morgan was in a van, the headlights off, when the officers pulled him over.
As one of the officers searched Morgan, who was off duty from his job at Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, he pulled out a handgun and fired, striking two of the officers.
Police returned fire and shot Morgan more than 20 times. He was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
In 2007, Morgan was acquitted of aggravated battery and discharging a weapon. In January, he was retried and found guilty of the attempted murder charges

54 years in fatal ramming of carload of teens

A gang member was sentenced to 54 years in prison today for ramming a carload of teens on Chicago’s West Side and killing an 18-year-old college student because he mistakenly thought they were gang rivals.
Shalimar Santiago, 30, showed no reaction as Judge Joseph Claps handed down the punishment for first-degree murder and seven counts of aggravated battery in the August 2009 crash that killed aspiring doctor Stephanie Herrera.
Moments before, Santiago stood at the defense table and apologized to the victims, but he said it was all a tragic accident and he was not the monster portrayed by prosecutors.
“I want to apologize to the victims,” Santiago said in a gruff voice as Herrera’s mother and father held each other in the front row of the courtroom gallery. “This was a car accident…I cannot bring her back, but I apologize.”
Herrera and seven friends from the suburbs were in a black SUV in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood trying to find their way to the expressway when Santiago mistook them for rivals who had shot his friend hours earlier.
Santiago chased the SUV through the streets and rammed it several times before it crashed into a utility pole. Herrera, a straight-A student from Melrose Park who was about to begin her sophomore year at the University of Illinois at Chicago, never regained consciousness and died several days later.

Former city employee sentenced to 9 years in DUI crash

A former city of Chicago employee was sentenced to 9 years in prison today for driving drunk on duty and crashing into a crowd of people on a Gold Coast sidewalk last year.

Judge James Linn handed down the sentence for Dwight Washington, 62, who pleaded guilty last week to four counts of aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm in the May 2011 crash that injured seven people.
Washington was working as a laborer for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation when he crashed his city pickup truck on a spring Saturday at Cedar and Rush streets in the bustling Gold Coast neighborhood.
Jennifer Anton, 26, a nanny who was pushing a stroller with a 20-month-old girl, was able to shove the child out of harm’s way before she was struck and severely injured. Six others,nincluding several participating in a commercial photo shoot depicting a wedding were hurt, one critically.
Police smelled alcohol on Washington and noticed he had bloodshot eyes and was unsteady on his feet, according to court records. An open bottle of E&J brandy was found lodged under the truck's gas pedal. He registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.183 percent, more than double the legal limit to drive

Killer of Officer Nathaniel Taylor gets life in prison

A reputed drug dealer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole today in the 2008 slaying of Chicago police Officer Nathaniel Taylor.

A Cook County jury convicted Lamar Cooper, 40, last month of first-degree murder in Taylor's slaying. Cooper, a convicted felon who had previously served time for attempted murder of a police officer, showed no emotion as Criminal Court Judge Nicholas Ford handed down the sentence.
Prosecutors said Taylor and other Calumet Area narcotics officers had a warrant to search Cooper's heavily fortified South Chicago neighborhood home for suspected drugs and weapons.
Cooper fatally shot Taylor as the officer approached his vehicle outside the home. Taylor's partner returned fire, wounding Cooper nine times in the chest, arms and abdomen

Man gets 205 years in robberies, sex assaults

An Iowa man has been sentenced to 205 years in prison for sexually assaulting three women in two robberies in the Jeffery Manor and Morgan Park neighborhoods, according to prosecutors and court records.
Larry Price, 31, was sentenced Wednesday by Cook County Judge Neera Walsh for the attacks in 2006 and 2007, according to court records.
Price was convicted in December of aggravated criminal sexual assault and robbery in the attacks Sept. 1, 2006, at a Rent-A-Center store, 95th Street and Jeffery Boulevard, and April 3, 2007, at a Yale Insurance, 10909 S. Western Ave..
In the 2006 attack, Price held three men at gunpoint on the floor in the Rent-A-Center, then sexually assaulted two female employees at gunpoint.
Price stole money from the store’s cash register and one of the women’s purses before fleeing.
Seven months later, Price attacked a woman who worked at the Yale Insurance, sexually assaulting her at gunpoint while she was alone in the store.
Price was captured on video surveillance, however, and Price’s ex-wife called police after she recognized him when surveillance images were released to the news media.
Price was sentenced to 135 years in prison for the Rent-A-Center attack and 70 years for the Yale insurance attack, to be served consecutively.

Man gets 75 years in '08 killing of girl, 10

A Chicago man was sentenced to 75 years in prison today for the slaying of a 10-year-old girl caught in gang crossfire while stooping to tie the shoes of her blind younger sister near their South Side home.
Judge Kenneth Wadas handed down the sentence to Raymond Jones, 22, who was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the September 2008 shooting death of Nequiel Fowler.
Prosecutors said Jones had met up with co-defendants Antoine Lacy, Joseph Chico and Luis Pena, who were all members of a street gang looking to shoot members of a rival gang.
Chico, who cut a deal with prosecutors in exchange for a 14-year prison term, testified at trial that he and Lacy were near 87^th Street and South Exchange Avenue when they heard about six gunshots and then fled the scene with Pena, who was accused of firing the shot that struck Nequiel. Jones later hid the weapon in his home, according to trial testimony.
Lacy, 29, was sentenced last week to 60 years in prison. Pena is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Life in prison for man with 'no human decency' who killed rap artist

The ranting and threats of a Chicago man convicted of murdering a northwest suburban musician didn’t stop a Cook County judge from sentencing him to life in prison today.
Patrick Taylor, 43, was flanked by sheriff’s deputies in Cook County’s Rolling Meadows branch courthouse Thursday when Judge Hyman Riebman handed down the sentence, declaring Taylor a “lifetime sociopath.”
“His criminal history is horrendous,” said Riebman. “This defendant is cold-hearted and vicious. He shows no human decency