Man gets life without parole for murder of Chicago Police Officer Ella French
CHICAGO (CBS) — A judge handed down a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the man who shot and killed Chicago Police Officer Ella French and injured Officer Carlos Yanez Jr. back in 2021.
Emonte Morgan was found guilty in March. Cook County Criminal Court Judge Ursula Walowski sentenced Morgan in a courtroom at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse Wednesday, following a sentencing hearing that lasted nearly seven hours.
Judge Walowski sentenced Morgan to consecutive life sentences without parole for killing French and shooting Yanez, another 50 years in prison for trying to shoot a third officer Joshua Blas, and seven years in prison for unlawful use of a weapon. These sentences are to be served consecutively.
"The brashness to kill a police officer after a traffic stop results in a brash sentence, which is the rest of his life in jail," said Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx.
Morgan made his final statement with a handwritten letter, saying there was no intent to murder Officer French. But the judge said Morgan chose to pull the trigger, and thus chose to sentence him to life in prison.
"I don't think it's justice. I'm not going to get closure," said Officer Yanez. "I mean like, I'm affected for the rest of my life. So many people were affected by this."
Morgan was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Officer French on Aug.7, 2021, during a traffic stop when he was pulled over with his brother Eric at 63rd Street and Bell Avenue in West Englewood.
Prosecutors said French, Yanez, and Blas pulled over Emonte Morgan and his brother, Eric, for expired plates on their sport-utility vehicle. While Eric Morgan handed over the keys when asked, Emonte Morgan refused to put down his drink and cell phone, leading to a struggle with the three officers.
Blas testified at trial that Emonte Morgan shot and killed Officer French, shot and wounded Yanez, and tried to shoot Blas as well during the scuffle.
Several other officers responded, putting French and Yanez into squad cars to bring them to the hospital. Doctors were unable to save French. Yanez lost an eye and is now partially blind, and he walks with a limp after being told he might never be able to move the left side of his body again.
Prosecutors say neither officer pulled out a weapon, but Morgan fired shots at both officers — killing French.
Inside a packed courtroom at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse Wednesday, police Supt. Larry Snelling sat next to Officer Yanez, Yanez's wife, French's mother, and Officer Blas. The mother of another Chicago Police officer who was shot and killed more recently, Aréanah Preston, was also in the courtroom.
At the hearing, Morgan's defense essentially tried to debunk evidence and asked for a new trial. Morgan's defense team has claimed he was trying to toss the gun when it went off, while his mother, Evalena Flores, has insisted her son was not guilty and accused police of a "cover-up."
"I just wanted to make an announcement to the public that I am not a mother that's delusional. I am not in denial or confused," Flores said Wednesday. "I know my son is 100% innocent. These people will go at great lengths to cover up all the mistakes they made that gruesome night."
The motion for a new trial was denied.
Meanwhile, tearful victim impact statements were heard Wednesday from Officer Yanez's family, Officer French's mother, and Officer Blas. Officer Yanez's father, retired CPD Officer Carlos Yanez Sr., did not mince words when he talked about hearing his son had been shot and not knowing if the younger Yanez would survive.
Yanez Sr. said all the family's pain was brought about by a "f***ing a**hole who should've been brought down a long time ago."
This started a heated exchange with Flores, Morgan's mother, who said: "My son is a victim. Your son is the f***ing a**hole."
The heated exchange between Yenez's father and Morgan's mother continued until Flores was escorted from the courtroom for a period of time.
"It made me sick to my stomach — you know, especially with the mother, you know saying it was a conspiracy and that he never had a gun," said Officer Yanez Jr. "You know, body camera footage shows it."
Officer Yanez himself also provided a victim impact statement—emphasizing that he was shot in the head four times and once in the shoulder, and was left with his life hanging by a thread. He also said he still has bullet fragments in his head and shoulder, and he does not know whether they someday might cause paralysis or death.
"I would like to tell you, you have taken so much that night. You killed Ella French and left me for dead. I was bleeding on the curb as you stood over our bodies," Officer Yanez told Morgan. "I'm here before you today to say you will not take any more. I will continue to fight everyday like I did that horrific night. I will never forgive you and I don't care what excuses you have. You f****d up that night and took so much away."
Yanez Jr. considers himself a disabled officer, while reiterating that he will never be the same after being shot five times that night.
"It's difficult, you know, every day," Yanez Jr. said later outside the courtroom, "but with all the love and support of my family."
French's mother, Elizabeth French, talked about losing her baby girl with whom she thought she'd have a lifetime.
She reflected on the week before her daughter's death when the two passed by Rainbow Cone after dinner. They wanted to stop but were too full. A week later, Officer French was killed.
It hit the officer's mother that she will never get to have a Rainbow Cone with her daughter, because Morgan shot and killed the young officer.
She said Morgan made a choice, and her choice now is not to forgive him. But she said she hopes he comes someday to understand how precious life is.
"Your choice was to become the murderer of my daughter, and with choices come consequences. I hope that yours will be life in prison," said Elizabeth French. "But what does that mean? It means you will have your life something you took away from. Ella Your mother can still tell you she loves you—something I can never do again."
These statements left few dry eyes in the courtroom.
French's mother chose not to speak on camera. But Yanez's father did speak, saying he thought the trial took too long — but he felt justice was served.
Yanez Sr. said he also hopes the trial sends a message.
"Maybe this will deter somebody out there thinking that there's a consequence when you commit violence on an officer that's just trying to help people and just trying to do the right thing," said Yanez Sr.
Emonte's brother, Eric Morgan, accepted a plea deal in October 2023 for weapons charges in French's murder and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
In December 2022, Jamel Danzy, the straw purchaser of the gun used to kill Officer French, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
