Man charged in plot to kill two witnesses in cousin's murder trial
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago man has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot, accused of trying to recruit another man to kill two witnesses in his cousin's upcoming murder trial.
Christopher Yates, 39, was indicted in federal court on two counts of murder-for-hire and one count of unlawful transfer of a firearm and ammunition.
According to the charges, Yates tried to recruit another person to kill two witnesses in the upcoming murder trial of his cousin, Brandon Wilson.
"I want them both off the board," Yates allegedly said of the two witnesses. "Both of them got to f***ing go."
The charges do not identify Wilson by name, but provide the case number for his murder charges in Cook County. Wilson is accused of shooting and killing Diana Black and wounding a second victim on Sept. 13, 2020.
Wilson's trial is scheduled for October.
The charges against Yates state the person he sought to hire to kill the witnesses in Wilson's trial was cooperating with federal investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence for convictions stemming from a federal case in Florida.
Yates allegedly met with that person and another person cooperating with the feds on July 9 in Oak Lawn to discuss the murder-for-hire plot.
During the meeting, Yates gave the person was recruiting a gun, ammo, claiming "That's red tips, the ones that go through body armor, I got a fresh box of them," and paying him $250, and offering to pay him more money later.
"Whatever you charge, I'm working on that," Yates allegedly said.
Yates is also accused of saying he wanted anyone who happened to be with the witnesses to be killed.
The feds said he also wanted the witnesses killed with different guns in an attempt to avoid ballistics tracing.
According to the charges, Yates said he would have carried out the killings himself, but knew he'd be the primary suspect.
After the meeting, Yates kept in touch with the person he recruited as he gathered information about the witnesses, including pictures of his targets, before arranging another meeting on July 30, when he said he wanted one of the witnesses shot in the head, because that person had already been shot once before in the body, and didn't die.
Yates kept in touch with the pair of federal cooperators as he gathered information about the targets, according to the complaint. They eventually met again on Tuesday, at which time Yates allegedly insisted that one of the targets needed to be shot in the head.
Yates was arrested the next day, and made his first court appearance on Aug. 2. A grand jury returned an indictment against him on Wednesday.
At his arraignment on Thursday, Yates pleaded not guilty to all charges.
