Jurors on Thursday stared intently at a video of a vacant field, taken days after a Metra police officer was brutally slain in his marked car in that field in Harvey.
As they watched, an eyewitness described how he and Jemetric Nicholson spotted the officer’s squad car that night nine years ago and Nicholson decided to rob the officer of his gun, firing two shots at him through an open window.
Jeremy Lloyd’s testimony highlighted the first day of the retrial of Nicholson at the Cook County courthouse in Markham. Nicholson, a 28-year-old felon, is accused of killing Thomas Cook, 43, a veteran officer and father of two, by firing shots into the back of Cook’s head as he sat in his police car.
On Thursday, prosecutors and Nicholson’s defense presented opening statements similar to those given during his first trial, which ended in a hung jury in October. Jurors said then that one holdout prevented them from finding Nicholson guilty of first-degree murder.
Circuit Judge Frank Zelezinski, who is presiding over the current trial, declared a mistrial, and the state’s attorney’s office decided to retry Nicholson. He’s serving what amounts to a life sentence on other convictions, including the attempted murder of a Harvey police officer the same day Cook was shot to death.
Nicholson, who won’t be eligible for release until 2145, was hunting for a gun and planned to commit armed robberies when he came upon Cook in a marked squad car the night of Sept. 27, 2006, near the 147th Street Metra station, prosecutors said.
Prosecution witnesses will testify that Nicholson got into shootouts with rivals and Harvey police in the 30 hours before Cook’s death, Assistant State’s Attorney Cheryl Schroeder told the jury during her opening statement Thursday.
While “there is no physical evidence” tying Nicholson to Cook’s death, confessions and witness statements made afterward consistently pointed to Nicholson, Schroeder said.
Defense attorney Mark Kusatzky said prosecutors will rely on testimony from witnesses who “have done some bad things,” including participating in the crimes that Nicholson allegedly committed, to describe what Nicholson did in the hours and days leading up to Cook’s death.
None of the physical evidence will “lead anything back to Jemetric Nicholson,” Kusatzky said. “It’s not clear. It’s not overwhelming. It’s not straightforward.”
Among the state witnesses Thursday were Cook’s wife, Pam, and two men, one a one-time suspect in the officer’s murder, who said they heard the fatal shots as they played dice at a home near the murder scene.
Cook was on a special detail for Metra police after several commuters had been robbed near the station and was parked in the empty field near the station. Witnesses testified it was common to hear gunshots at night in Harvey.
Lloyd, a key witness for the state, recounted details of the fatal shooting, saying he served as lookout while Nicholson, dressed all in black, walked up to Cook’s squad car. He told the jury that he watched from a nearby alley as Nicholson pointed a handgun toward the open car window, but Lloyd said he turned away before two shots rang out into the night.
Lloyd is testifying under an immunity grant regarding anything he says from the stand — part of a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Nicholson’s defense is attempting to discredit the state’s witnesses, largely by pointing out inconsistencies in their testimony and statements they made to authorities over the years.
The trial is expected to run through next week.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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