Two men convicted in the killing of Tyshawn Lee, a 9-year-old Chicago boy who was fatally shot at close range in what prosecutors allege stemmed from a gang war, were sentenced to decades in prison Wednesday.
Dwright Boone-Doty, the alleged gunman, was sentenced to 90 years behind bars and three years of supervision while Corey Morgan, who is accused of planning the brutal murder, was sentenced to 65 years in prison with three years of supervision. The pair were found guilty in the young boy's murder by separate juries in a trial in October.
"The tragic loss of a good friend and brother and the galling injury to your mother is painful to say the least but vengeance is not yours. Nor will the law tolerate vigilante justice," Judge Thaddeus Wilson said in sentencing.
Tyshawn was playing basketball in November 2015 when prosecutors say he was lured away from a playground with a juice box, then shot at close range in an alley in broad daylight. His basketball was found just feet away.
"You preyed on Tyshawn, you lied to Tyshawn , you lured Tyshawn and you murdered Tyshawn," the boy's grandmother, Theresa Wilson wrote in a letter read in court Wednesday. "You left his little body in a cold alley to die and you drove off like he was some kind of animal. He was just an innocent little boy."
Prosecutors claimed the two gang members plotted to kill the boy in retaliation for a shooting that killed Morgan's brother and wounded his mother. Defense attorneys questioned the credibility of witnesses and evidence in the case, arguing the jury should put its sympathies and prejudice aside.
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A third man accused in the shooting, alleged getaway driver Kevin Edwards, pleaded guilty earlier this year in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence.
"This case has rocked all of us in the city of Chicago and quite frankly, the nation, with it’s heinous and horrific nature," Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said. "Today’s sentencing in which we see these two defendants will never be enough will never be enough for Tyshawn or his family."
