Former high-ranking Gangster Disciple testifies at trial for murder of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A jailhouse informant took the witness stand Monday in the murder trial of one of two men accused of murdering 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
When Tyshawn was fatally shot in November 2015, nearby Dawes Park on Chicago's South Side was filled with children. A number of them identified the two suspects, Corey Morgan and Dwright Boone-Doty, who are accused of luring Tyshawn into an alley in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood and shooting him several times. The young boy was shot in a south side alley in what prosecutors believe was retaliation against the boy's father.
The informant, who is a star witness, said Dwright Doty talked about the murder of Tyshawn Lee all day, every day in the jail.
Doty is captured on one recording talking about the boy when he first spotted him at Dawes Park in November of 2015.
"That was shorty. I'm gonna smoke his little [explicit]. I'll kidnap his little [explicit] and chop up his bones and [explicit]," Doty allegedly said.
Prosecutors said Doty shot the boy execution style in a nearby alley while co-defendant Corey Morgan watched in a nearby getaway car.
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Prosecutors also said the informant, 31-year-old Demetrius Murry, may be risking his life by testifying.
Murry, who is a former high-ranking gang member of the Gangster Disciples serving a 10 year sentence for aggravated discharge of a weapon, is a key part of their case against the accused killers. Murry said he was bothered by the killing because the victim was a child.
"He was basically saying the people he was looking for couldn't be found," Murray said in court. "When he couldn't find them it was game on for anyone."
Earlier jurors heard from Detective Timothy Murphy who recruited the informant, who was willing to help because as he told the court, "a person that brag about things like that, it don't add up to me. It ain't right."
Last week Jalen Anderson, who was 14 at the time, testified in court. He said he was in the area when Tyshwan was killed and saw a man carrying a gun.
Anderson initially refused to testify. He was arrested and spent nearly a month in jail before speaking at the trial on Thursday.
"He's in fear of his life," said attorney Andre Grant. "A case for the murder of a 9-year-old child. If you would kill a 9-year-old child, what would you do to a witness?"
Earlier this month, a gunman killed 18-year-old Treja Kelley in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. Some investigators believe Kelley was fatally shot in retaliation for her testimony that helped convict the man who killed her cousin.
There are a number of other witnesses who are reluctant to testify in the trial.
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Earl Moore, who was also at the park that day, is now in college in Arkansas. Moore testified Thursday after being arrested and spending 16 days in jail.
Observers said the testimony is key to prosecuting the men who allegedly committed a heinous crime.
Judge Thaddeus Wilson said he understands the concerns, but witnesses "have to follow a process, and ignoring it causes all sorts of complications."
Murray is expected to be the prosecution's final witness. The judge said he expects this case to be wrapped up and go to the jury before the end of the week.
