Second Suspect Pleads Guilty To Slaying Of U Of C Student
CHICAGO (STMW) - A second suspect pleaded guilty Thursday to the 2007 murder of a University of Chicago graduate student and was sentenced to 41 years in prison.
Benjamin Williams pleaded guilty before Judge Steven Goebel to the slaying of Amadou Cisse on Nov. 19, 2007, on the South Side campus, according to Asst. Cook County State's Atty. Andreana Turano.
He was sentenced to 35 years for the murder and another six years for armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, according to Turano.
According to prosecutors, Bracey and co-defendant Demetrius Warren stole two guns -- a .22 caliber and .38 caliber -- from a home in the 7000 block of South Euclid Avenue on Nov. 13, 2007.
Warren shot Cisse, 29, once in the chest with the stolen .22 as he and Williams tried to grab Cisse's book bag in the 6100 block of South Ellis Avenue, Turano charged in court.
Cisse, a Senegalese national who was a month away from earning his doctorate, had attended an ice cream social and chatted with friends the night he was killed. He had just left campus with his backpack and a water bottle when he was accosted about 1:30 a.m., Turano said.
Bracey was in a Pontiac Bonneville with the driver, Eric Walker, and another person, waiting as the shooting took place, she said.
All five had been driving around in the car as Warren went on a spree, holding up others, sometimes with the assistance of the other, Turano said.
About 15 minutes before Cisse was gunned down, Bracey and Warren had held up two other U. of C. students as they left the college library. They stole the womens' pens, credit cards and wallets, Turano said.
After Cisse was shot and the men fled, the credit cards were used to buy gas to fill up the Bonneville.
Warren and Walker's cases are still pending.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
