A Chicago Board of Trade trader has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for the killing of a friend he'd known since childhood.
A Cook County judge sentenced 38-year-old Michael Pelko on Friday for 37-year-old Izat Morrar's July 2017 slaying.
Morrar's body was found dumped in an alley in the Washington Park neighborhood with two gunshot wounds to his head.
A jury convicted Pelko, of suburban Willow Springs, of murder in August. Pelko's lawyer tells the Chicago Sun-Times his client will appeal his conviction.
Text messages showed Pelko and Morrar had argued over a debt before the slaying.
Prosecutors said Pelko created an alibi for the day of Morrar's killing that included telling co-workers he was leaving work early to attend a party for his son's baseball team.
