Man Dead, Woman Injured In Cicero Shooting – cbs2chicago.com

A Cicero man who was inside a Lincoln Town car with a woman when they were shot Tuesday night in the west suburb has died.

Horacio Mendoza, 18, of 1612 S. 55th Ct., was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. at Loretto Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Mendoza was in the passenger’s seat of a Lincoln Town at 1611 S. 55th Ct. when he suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Cicero spokesman Elio Montenegro said the incident occurred at 9:45 p.m. at the 55th Court address and a woman of unidentified age was also shot while they were sitting inside the vehicle.

via Man Dead, Woman Injured In Cicero Shooting – cbs2chicago.com.

Man accused of attack over cigarette — again – Chicago Breaking News

A man convicted for attacking a couple last year for not giving him a cigarette has been arrested again, accused of doing almost the same thing this morning to a woman in the South Loop, police said.Derrick King, 47, was paroled Tuesday for the earlier attack, which happened in August 2008 less than a mile east of today’s incident. Hours later he was in police custody again, charged with misdemeanor simple assault.Police say King approached the woman, who was smoking a cigarette, at about 3:20 a.m. in the 500 block of West Roosevelt Road and asked her for a smoke. She said no.”He told her: ‘Remember the couple who got beat real bad for not giving a cigarette? That was me,’ ” said Chicago Police Sgt. Karla Chaplin.

via Man accused of attack over cigarette — again – Chicago Breaking News.

There will be no execution for James Degorski.

The first vote went 8-4 in favor of James Degorski’s execution.

No one in the jury room blinked. The panel’s initial vote had gone the same way three weeks earlier, when they found Degorski guilty of the Brown’s Chicken slayings, but everyone eventually had come around.

So this time the jurors all explained their positions. And they voted again.

10-2.

The two holdouts — men who had become friends over the seven-week trial — stood firm. They would not sign Degorski’s death warrant, insisting the man who killed seven people inside the Palatine restaurant 16 years ago deserved the kind of mercy and understanding he never received as a child.

The tension level in the room shot up, jurors said. The panel that had convicted Degorski and found him eligible for the death penalty in less than two hours was now deeply divided.

“It did get a little heated and frustrating,” said forewoman Cynthia Rathburn, 47. “It was like that until we realized we were not going to reach a unanimous decision.”

One holdout, Pablo Laboy, 31, of Chicago, felt the room turn against him. He said his fellow jurors argued their positions, urging him to change his vote.

“It’s definitely difficult because everybody looks at you like you’re not doing the right thing,” said Laboy, who had been an alternate juror until last week and had not participated in earlier deliberations.

Laboy said he watched the movie “12 Angry Men” during the trial and vowed to be open-minded to his fellow jurors, but he was haunted by the testimony of extreme physical and sexual abuse in Degorski’s childhood home.

“It’s not an excuse for doing the crime but I felt he had a really rough childhood,” Laboy said. “He was the only one who didn’t get psychiatric help. Maybe he was savable.”

via Inside the jury room: How they deadlocked – Chicago Breaking News.

Inside the jury room: How they deadlocked – Chicago Breaking News