Juries have found two defendants accused in the murder of an off-duty Chicago police officer in 2010 guilty of first-degree murder.
Paris McGee and Toyious Taylor were found guilty by two separate juries Thursday in connection with the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Thomas Wortham IV.
Thomas Wortham IV, 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.
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.
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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.
Their attorneys, however, claim the two were not involved in the robbery and had no knowledge of what happened.
Separate juries were tasked with deciding the fate of both defendants in simultaneous trials before Judge Timothy Joyce.
