STAY TUNED
Shawn Gaston, 22, GUILTY OF 1st Degree Murder and Attempted Murder
They did not find him guilty of murdering a police officer. The jury said they did not know if the offender knew the victim was a cop....
Closing arguments have begun this afternoon in the trial of a reputed gang member charged with killing a Chicago police officer in a drive-by shooting two years ago.
Prosecutors have said that Shawn Gaston, 22, was out for revenge after he and others had been fired at by rivals early on June 1, 2009. He allegedly fired several shots at two individuals standing on a sidewalk in front of a vacant lot in the 6000 block of South Hermitage Avenue. Officer Alejandro "Alex" Valadez, 27, who was investigating a report of shots fired, was fatally wounded, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors on Tuesday played a 20-minute videotaped statement from Gaston in which he admitted firing from a car "like, four times."
A prosecutor acknowledged that Gaston had not been told that a police officer had been shot before he made his admissions.
Gaston's attorney, John Paul Carroll, continued questioning police witnesses today about whether they followed proper procedure in their investigation of Valadez’s murder. He has suggested that three guns found in the alleged getaway car could have been planted after the vehicle was towed to a police garage.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy is in court for the start of the closing arguments. The trial is taking place in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at 26th Street and California Avenue.
