CHICAGO (AP) — After months of trials, the fifth and final defendant was found guilty of murder Wednesday in a Chicago high school honor student's videotaped beating death that prompted outrage across the nation.
Jurors deliberated about two hours before
convicting Lapoleon Colbert, 20, in the September 2009 death of Fenger High
School sophomore Derrion Albert. Colbert started crying when the verdict was read.
Colbert could face a lengthy prison sentence.
Silvonus Shannon, 20, was sentenced to 32 years in the case and Eric Carson,
17, was convicted and given 26 years in prison. A juvenile was sentenced to a
juvenile detention center until his 21st birthday.
Colbert and Eugene Riley, 20, are both awaiting
sentencing.
In a cell phone camera video, Albert is seen being
punched, slammed over his head with large boards, kicked and finally stomped on
his head.
Colbert didn't testify in his defense, but three of
his high school teachers did testify for Colbert. Colbert's attorney, Michael
Clancy, argued Colbert wasn't part of the mob.
"He wasn't part of that mob when it started,
he wasn't part of that mob when it ended. In between, he made a horrible,
disgusting, stupid mistake," Clancy said.
Prosecutors argued Colbert kicked and stomped
Albert.
"Derrion Albert was the one, and nobody
protected him that day from the many," Assistant State's Attorney Kathleen
Bankhead said.
The beating was captured on cell phone video and
widely broadcast, providing the most vivid example of escalating violence that
in a six-month period claimed the lives of more than 20 Chicago public school
students. Albert's death prompted President Barack Obama to send U.S. Attorney
Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to the city to discuss ways to
end the violence.
Both the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam
Minister Louis Farrakhan attended Albert's funeral and called for an end to
youth violence.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
