Prosecutors request resentencing of Chicago cop

CHICAGO — Prosecutors on Monday asked Illinois’ highest court to review the less than seven-year prison sentence given the white Chicago police officer who was convicted in the shooting death of black teenager Laquan Mcdonald.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Kane County State’s Attorney Joseph Mcmahon, the special prosecutor who won a murder conviction against former officer Jason Van Dyke, said they believe Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan improperly applied the law last month when he sentenced Van Dyke to six years and nine months in prison. In a rare move, Raoul and Mcmahon filed a request with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking an order that would send the case back to Gaughan for a new sentence. Van Dyke

Dash-cam video of the shooting released by the city in 2015 showed Van Dyke continued to fire after the 17-year-old Mcdonald fell to the ground. The sentence was the first imposed on a Chicago police officer for an on-duty shooting in a half century.

It followed a jury’s decision in October to convict the officer of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery — one count for each bullet fired into Mcdonald.

The central issue in the petition is an Illinois law that allows a judge to sentence a person for only the most serious crime when he is convicted of multiple crimes for what amounts to a single act. Gaughan determined that second-degree murder was the more serious crime, even though it carries a lighter sentence than aggravated battery — between four and 20 years in prison versus six to 30 years in prison.

Both Raoul and Mcmahon steered clear of saying whether they believed the sentence handed down by Gaughan was too short, but their filing sets in motion a legal battle that could ultimately result in the court forcing the judge to impose a longer sentence.

One of Van Dyke’s attorneys, Darren O’brien, said Monday that prosecutors’ contention that the judge should sentence Van Dyke on the aggravated battery charge because it is more serious than second-degree murder doesn’t make sense.

“It’s common sense that the lesser harm of getting shot would merge into the greater harm of getting killed,” O’brien said.