Chicago man that witnessed younger brother's murder face 45 years for murder of a woman 16 years later

Somethings got to be done in the city of Chicago, seems like bodies stack up a dime a dozen.

Eric Morse, who was 5 in 1994, was asked by some older boys in his Chicago neighborhood to steal candy for them. He said no. He didn’t want to steal.

The older boys, who were 10 and 11 at the time, determined that Eric, who was growing up in a home marked by frequent parental absence, must be punished for his honesty. The 10-year-old, according to court documents, had an IQ that was below 60. The 11-year-old had an IQ of 76. They had led wretched lives of neglect and squalor.

This is where the sh*t goes all bad.

…The older boys led them to an abandoned apartment on the 14th floor of the Ida B. Wells housing project, a high-rise building that had the reputation of being a home base for drug dealers. They led Eric and Derrick into the empty apartment. It is where they would execute Eric. The older boys lifted Eric up and dangled him from an open window.

Derrick testified, the two older boys ordered Eric to look out of a second window. If he refused, they said, they would strike him in the head with a brick. Eric, afraid, complied. The older boys then picked the 5-year-old up and dangled him out the second window. Again, his 8-year-old brother tried desperately to save him. He grabbed on to one of Eric’s arms.

But, Derrick would testify, one of the older boys, seeing that he was trying to rescue his little brother, bit the hand with which he was holding Eric. With the boy’s teeth sinking painfully into the flesh of his hand, he had to let go. Eric’s body dropped 14 stories. Derrick would later testify that he ran down all 14 flights of stairs. He believed, he said, that he might be able to get to the bottom in time to catch his brother.

B-b-but wait it gets worse…

In a Cook County criminal courtroom, prosecutors asked a judge to send Derrick Lemon away for a long prison term. He is 24 now. He stands guilty of murdering a man named Illya Glover at a family barbecue in 2006. Glover was shot to death when he tried to stop Lemon from attacking a female relative at the gathering. Lemon will be sentenced next month. He faces a term ranging from 45 years to life in prison.

This is one helluva sad story. Condolences to all the families involved, not only in this situation, but all families that have lost loved ones through violence. We HAVE to do better people!!

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