Prison Sentence Coming For Young Murder Victim's Brother
CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) -- A judge will decide next month whether a 24-year-old Chicago man will spend decades in prison, for a murder he committed many years after witnessing the murder of his 5-year-old brother.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Mike Krauser reports, few could forget the murder of Eric Morse.
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On Oct. 13, 1994, Eric was dropped from a 14th-floor window of a vacant Chicago Housing Authority high-rise, at 3833 S. Langley Ave. in the Ida B. Wells complex.
The killers were 10 and 11 years old.
Police said Eric had refused to steal candy. One of the killers later denied that, and said it was about bullying that got out of hand.
Eric was also stabbed and Maced before he was dropped from the windwow, according to published reports.
The youths who killed Morse, Jesse Rankins and Tykeece Johnson, were both sent to juvenile detention facilities. They have since been released.
Eric's brother, Derrick Lemon, was present at the time of the little boy's murder, and tried to grab and save him.
Lemon, according to prosecutors, went on to lead a life of crime.
His lawyer said he was forgotten by society after the tragedy.
Lemon shot and killed his aunt's boyfriend, Illya Glover, during an argument at a barbecue in March 2006. He was convicted of the crime last summer and faces up to 45 years in prison.
Glover's family says Lemon knew the pain of loss, but chose to inflict it on another family.
Prosecutors want Lemon to serve a lengthy sentence, but defense attorneys ask Judge Thomas Hennelly to keep in mind the trauma Lemon suffered when his brother was killed in front of him.
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