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CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man was convicted Wednesday of fatally shooting a police officer and former Chicago Housing Authority employee who were investigating an auto burglary.
Timothy Herring was found guilty on charges of first-degree murder and burglary after more than seven hours of deliberation by the jury.
Prosecutors during the trial described the 2010 deaths of police evidence technician Michael Flisk, 46, and Stephen Peters, 44, as cold-blooded slayings. They accused Herring, now 24, of shooting both men in the head once, then shooting them again after he saw one of them move.
Herring was a 19-year-old parolee at the time of the killings. Prosecutors say he killed Flisk and Peters when he found them at the scene of a burglary he'd committed hours earlier.
In closing arguments Tuesday, Assistant Cook County Thomas Mahoney said it wasn't enough for Herring to steal parts of Peters' prized Ford Mustang.
"That day, Timothy Herring was not interested in peace. He was interested in violence. He was interested in spilling the blood of Michael Flisk and Stephen Peters," Mahoney said, saying Herring shot them because he didn't want to go back to jail.
Herring's defense attorney argued prosecutors had no substantial physical evidence.
One of Herring's ex-girlfriends and two of his cousins testified Herring told them that he had killed Flisk and Peters. Assistant Public Defender Gina Piemonte said the witnesses were motivated to twist the truth because they were interested in the reward money being offered.
"These are the witnesses the prosecutors want you to believe, one liar after the next," she said Tuesday.
Herring faces a sentence of mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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