Man Convicted Of Fatally Shooting Cop, Former CHA Employee Gets Life In Prison
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- A 24-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to life in prison in the fatal shooting of a city police officer and former Chicago Housing Authority employee who were investigating an auto burglary.
Cook County Judge Margaret Brosnahan sentenced Timothy Herring to the mandatory life prison term during a hearing Friday. Herring was found guilty in May on charges of first-degree murder and burglary.
"You have earned every single day of this sentence for your actions," Brosnahan told the defendant.
Prosecutors during the trial described the 2010 deaths of 46-year-old police evidence technician Michael Flisk and 44-year-old Stephen Peter as cold-blooded slayings. They accused Herring of shooting both men in the head once, then shooting them again after he saw one of them move.
Prosecutors said Herring broke into Peters' car and shot the men after he learned Flisk found fingerprints during the investigation.
Family members of the victims made impact statements, or had them read in court.
Officer Flisk's wife, Nora, chose to have prosecutor Thomas Mahoney read her statement. She expressed the devastation of losing her husband.
"I've been sentenced to a lifetime of pain and sorrow. My family is broken. There is no repair," the statement said.
Herring showed little emotion in court, only wiping away tears when his younger brother took the witness stand saying, "He was always saying he wanted the best for me."
The defense said Herring was failed by the system, having been tried as an adult and locked up at 16 for armed robbery.
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