Five Life Sentences For Killing Of Father, Wife And Ex-Girlfriend
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A South Side man convicted of murdering his wife, father and ex-girlfriend in a bloody crime spree that spanned from Steger to Maywood to Chicago was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.
James Amison, 40, held back tears as he apologized to his family and the relatives of the slain women, the Sun-Times is reporting.
"I don't know what happened," Amison said before Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced him to five life sentences for the murder, home invasion and armed robbery convictions tied to the December 2009 crimes.
"If you could find it in your heart to forgive me, it would mean so much," he said.
Amison allegedly pulled the trigger in a jealous rage because he thought his father and wife were having an affair.
He first strangled his wife, Tashika Smith, 38, in her Steger home. Then he took a friend's car, drove to his father's home in Maywood and shot him in the neck. James Johnson died several months later from his injuries.
After shooting his father, Amison drove to the Englewood home of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Reed, 40, and gunned her down.
But he wasn't done, prosecutors said.
Amison proceeded to The Factory, a South Side strip club, where he held up a dancer at gunpoint before he was shot in the leg by a patron.
"It seemed like a wild man was on the loose," Linn said.
Amison must serve three of the life sentences consecutively and two concurrently. Linn also sentenced him to an additional 30 years for being an armed habitual criminal.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
