A 60-year sentence has been handed down to Jim McPherson, who was convicted last fall of killing 18-year-old Janay McFarlane in North Chicago on the same day her sister was sitting near President Barack Obama at an anti-violence rally in Chicago.
The North Chicago 22-year-old faced a sentencing range of 45 to 85 years in prison for fatally shooting McFarlane on Feb. 15, 2013, in a North Chicago alley. A jury convicted McPherson of first-degree murder in November and Judge George Strickland read his sentence Friday during a hearing attended by family members of both the victim and McPherson.
“In this case, what you had was an 18-year-old innocent young girl literally caught in the crossfire of gang violence,” Assistant State’s Attorney Ari Fisz said.
After Friday’s hearing, defense attorney James Schwarzbach said he didn’t find the sentence surprising “based on the factual basis of the case.”
McFarlane, of Chicago , was in North Chicago visiting friends when she was shot shortly after 11:20 p.m. while walking with two friends in an alley behind Jackson Street. That date coincided with a visit by President Barack Obama to Chicago to discuss gun violence, and McFarlane’s 14-year-old sister was sitting near the president at the event.
Following days of testimony from more than 20 witnesses, prosecutors told the jury in closing arguments they had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that McPherson fatally wounded McFarlane while attempting to shoot at a rival gang member.
During the trial, Schwarzbach countered that the state had not met its burden of proof identifying McPherson as the killer and should find him not guilty so police can reopen the investigation to find the “real shooter.”
Fisz and Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Grindel said McPherson considered one of the men McFarlane was walking with a rival gang member.
The prosecutors said McPherson saw the group McFarlane was with in a liquor store minutes before the shooting, and then ambushed them in the alley, about a block away.
Fisz said a previous verbal confrontation between McPherson and the man walking with McFarlane was motive enough to spark the shooting.
The last image McFarlane’s father had of his daughter was a cellphone shot taken by a police officer that showed her lying in the alley with a bullet wound to the head, Fisz said.
A state police forensics expert testified during the trial that gunshot residue was found on samples taken from McPherson’s right hand.
Police gang experts also testified that McPherson is a member of the Gangster Disciples, a claim that Schwarzbach conceded is true, although he denied it was a factor in the case.
Darius McPherson, who was held in contempt of court last November after refusing to testify at the trial of his brother, pleaded guilty last week to criminal contempt of court as well as possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver.
McPherson, 24, will be sentenced April 8.
Witnesses testified at Jim McPherson’s trial that his brother had driven him to the alley where the shooting occurred and then witnessed the crime.
Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes said the sentence for refusing to testify has no maximum and is up to the judge’s discretion. The drug charge carries a sentence of three to seven years, authorities said.
Susan Berger contributed to this report.
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