No Defense Mounted in Accused Cop Killer's Trial

Accused cop killer Lamar Cooper opted not to take the stand in his defense Wednesday in the murder of Chicago Police Officer Nathaniel Taylor Jr. 

Fifteen minutes after conferring with defense attorneys, Cooper told Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford that he did not want to testify. His lawyers then rested their case without calling a single witness.

Closing arguments in the trial, which began Monday, are expected to begin Thursday morning.

In a little more than two days of testimony, prosecutors called roughly two dozen witnesses to try to prove that the purported drug dealer killed Taylor, 39, when the officer tried to serve him with a warrant to search his house in the early morning hours of Sept. 28, 2008.

Cooper’s attorneys aren’t denying their client shot Taylor, but they argued that he didn’t know Taylor was a police officer and believed he was about to get robbed.

Cooper, 40, is facing charges of first-degree murder and three counts of possessing controlled substances for the drugs police say they found in his house in the 7900 block of South Clyde.

Taylor's colleagues on Tuesday held a vigil outside the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at West 26th Street and South California Avenue.

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