At the sentencing Wednesday of two reputed gang members for the revenge killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee, Cook County prosecutors read an emotional, angry letter from the fourth-grader’s family.
“You preyed on Tyshawn, you lied to Tyshawn, you lured Tyshawn and then you murdered Tyshawn,” the statement from his grandmother and great-grandmother said. “You left his little 9-year-old body in a cold alley on the ground to die. … The word ‘in cold blood’ does not do justice.”
When the hearing wrapped up about an hour later, Judge Thaddeus Wilson handed down sentences that would effectively keep the two behind bars for the rest of their lives.
Dwright Doty, 26, the convicted gunman, was sentenced to 90 years in prison, while Corey Morgan, 31, whose desire for revenge allegedly provided the motive for the slaying, was given a 65-year prison term.
The sentencing closes the book on one of Chicago’s most shocking killings in recent years. Prosecutors said Tyshawn was targeted in November 2015 because his father, a high-ranking member of a rival gang, was suspected in the fatal shooting of Morgan’s brother and wounding of his mother just weeks earlier.
After that shooting, Morgan was heard warning that he would retaliate with violence against “grandmamas, mamas, kids and all,” prosecutors alleged.
“Where does this mind-numbing, debilitating, senseless violence stop?” the judge said in impassioned remarks. “Grandmas, mamas, kids and all are not fair game.
Tyshawn’s jubilant mother, Karla Lee, addressed reporters following the hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for the first time in years.
“I’m just happy that I got justice today,” she said. “I’m glad I got what I deserved. I’m glad my son got what he deserved. And that’s justice.”
Tyshawn’s killing came to symbolize the entrenched cycles of gang retaliation that authorities say drive much of the city’s violence.
Seeking revenge for the recent shooting of Morgan’s mother and brother, Doty won Tyshawn’s trust at a playground in Dawes Park in the South Side’s Gresham neighborhood, dribbling his basketball before luring the boy into a nearby alley and shooting him multiple times at close range. Morgan and co-defendant Kevin Edwards watched from a nearby SUV.
Seven .40-caliber shells — and Tyshawn’s beloved basketball — were found by his body.
Separate juries were needed in part because the two defendants blamed each other for the killing to an extent.
New DNA analysis software — never before used as evidence in an Illinois criminal case — linked Doty to the basketball found near Tyshawn’s body. Doty was also captured on undercover recordings bragging to another inmate in Cook County Jail about the killing.
While three eyewitnesses identified Morgan in police lineups, the evidence against him was more circumstantial. His cellphone was used to make calls in the area of the park on the afternoon of the shooting, and Edwards’ sister testified that she heard Morgan vow revenge on “grandmamas, mamas, kids and all” after his mother and brother were shot.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, attorneys for the two defendants highlighted how their clients fell into the gang life while growing up in harsh circumstances
Todd Pugh, one of Morgan’s attorneys, warned the judge not to punish Morgan for the entire sordid history between the rival factions of the Black P Stones and Gangster Disciples.
Gang life was more or less “foisted” at a young age on Morgan, who was raised by a drug-addicted father and a hardworking mother who did all she could to keep him on the right path, Pugh said.
Doty’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Danita Ivory, noted Doty’s father was in and out of prison and that his beloved grandfather died when he was in his teens, so he “turned to the streets,” she said.
Ivory read several letters from Doty’s family members that described him as hardworking and supportive.
The judge acknowledged that the shooting of Morgan’s family must have been “painful to say the least,” but that “vigilante justice” could not be tolerated.
Doty could have been sentenced to up to life in prison, while Morgan faced a maximum 115-year prison term. They each must serve the entire sentences.
Edwards, who acted as the getaway driver, pleaded guilty to the slaying shortly before the trial and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Morgan rejected a plea deal in September that would have resulted in a 25-year prison term for him as well. At the time, Judge Wilson told Morgan that by law he would face a much harsher sentence if he was convicted of the most serious charges at trial.
Veteran attorney Thomas Breen, who also defended Morgan, told reporters after the hearing that Tyshawn’s killing was “the worst case I’ve ever seen.”
He called on communities and police to work together to improve Chicago.
“Not one purpose has been served by the killing of Tyshawn Lee,” he said. “Lives have been destroyed. Lives are now going to be spent behind bars. And for what? For absolutely nothing.”
![Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-Illinois-marijuana_175925141.jpg?w=546 "Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]")