Man Sentenced In Murder Of U. Of C. Grad Student
CHICAGO (STMW) - A South Side man was sentenced to 35 years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the slaying of University of Chicago graduate student Amadou Cisse.
Cook County Judge Dennis Porter also sentenced 20-year-old Jamal Bracey to four additional years in prison for burglarizing the South Side home of a physician six days before the Nov. 19, 2007 murder.
Bracey and his co-defendant Demetrius Warren stole two guns — a .22 caliber and .38 caliber — from the home in the 7000 block of South Euclid Avenue on Nov. 13, 2007, Assistant State's Attorney Andreana Turano said. Warren shot Cisse, 29, once in the chest with the stolen .22 caliber handgun as he and another man, Benjamin Williams, tried to grab Cisse's book bag in the 6100 block of South Ellis Avenue, Turano alleged.
Cisse, who was a month away from earning his doctorate, had attended an ice cream social and chatted with friends about his pending job search the night he was killed.
Cisse, of Senegal, had just left campus with his backpack and a water bottle when he was accosted by the men around 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, Turano said.
All five had been driving around in the car Walker rented out as Warren went on a spree, holding up others, sometimes with the assistance of the other men, Turano said.
About 15 minutes before Cisse was gunned down, Bracey and Warren held up two other U. of C. students as they left the college's library. The pair took the women's pens, credit cards and wallets, Turano said.
After Cisse was shot and the men fled, the students' credit cards were used to buy gas to fill up the Bonneville, Turano said.
Before Porter sentenced him, Bracey, of the 6100 block of South Damen, said he was "sorry."
Warren, Williams and Walker's cases are pending.
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