A convicted felon faces life in prison after a Cook County jury on Thursday found him guilty of killing Chicago police officer Nathaniel Taylor.
Lamar Cooper, 40, was found guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder and three counts of possessing controlled substances for the drugs found in his house, on the 7900 block of South Clyde Avenue.
The jury deliberated for just two hours and brought the verdict to a packed, standing-room only courtroom that included police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.
Cooper's defense team didn't deny that Cooper fired shots, but instead told jurors he didn't know Taylor was a police officer since he was in plain clothes at the time and shot him in self-defense.
Asst. State's Attorney Jim McKay said that is no excuse.
"Lamar Cooper just can't shoot first and then try to tell anybody, 'Well, you know, I didn't know he was a police officer.' That's not how our laws work," he said.
Alvarez lamented that she once again had to attend the trial of someone accused of killing an officer.
Taylor was trying to serve a search warrant on Cooper's house in 2008 when prosecutors said he was shot nine times, including in the head and chest, as he walked up to Cooper's car. Taylor's partner returned fire.
On Wednesday, the defense rested without calling a single witness to the stand. Not even Cooper took the stand to state his case.
The trial, which began Monday, included more than 20 witnesses called by Cook County prosecutors.
