Two men convicted in the 2010 murder of an off-duty Chicago police officer were sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.
Paris McGee and Toyious Taylor faced a mandatory life sentence after they were found guilty of first-degree murder by two separate juries in November in connection with the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Thomas Wortham IV.
They also received a second life sentence, to be served concurrently, in connection with the death of one of their accomplices who was killed during the attempted robbery.
Before the sentencing, Wortham's parents gave tearful, emotional statements to the packed courtroom.
"All lives are valuable, I'm not trying to imply that my son was more important than anybody else,” said his father Thomas Wortham III. “But the point is, when they killed my son, they didn't just kill anyone. They killed a man who spent his whole life trying to people, trying to make the world a better place."
Wortham's mother, Carolyn Wortham, said the shooting has forever changed her sense of security.
"He did not deserve to be shot down in the street and run over like a dog," she said. "Tommy's murder has left a void in our family that can never be filled. It has fractured our family and changed the course of our lives... I no longer feel comfortable in the neighborhood where I’ve spent most of my life and where I raised my children."
Wortham, 30, was killed May 19, 2010, in front of his parents' South Side home as he tried to stop four men from stealing his motorcycle. He had recently completed his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Prosecutors say Wortham was ambushed outside his Chatham home and when he identified himself as a cop, gunfire was exchanged and he was shot in the stomach. His father, a retired police sergeant, said he witnessed the shooting and ran inside to get his gun.
When he came out, he said he saw the two defendants, Taylor and McGee, in the getaway car yelling at two other suspects to “get in, get in.”
His father opened fire on two of the suspects, killing one, after he said he saw one of them point a gun at him.
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Prosecutors allege Taylor was driving the vehicle that fled the scene in the attempted robbery, dragging the Wortham’s body down the block.
The 30-year-old officer was pronounced dead a short time later.
Taylor and McGee were both charged with two counts of murder. A third suspect, Marcus Floyd, is also charged in the murder.
Prosecutors say even though Taylor and McGee weren't the ones who fired the shots that killed Officer Wortham, as accomplices to the robbery, they're legally responsible for his murder.
Separate juries were tasked with deciding the fate of both defendants in simultaneous trials before Judge Timothy Joyce.
The case marked the first time cameras have been allowed in a Cook County criminal courtroom during sentencing.
