CHICAGO – Former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison in the controversial 2014 shooting death of…
CHICAGO – Former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison in the controversial 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a black teen whose killing by the white police officer sparked public outrage in the nation’s third-largest city and beyond.
Van Dyke was convicted in October of second degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery, one for each shot he fired. He faced up to 96 years in prison.
Prosecutors had asked Judge Vincent Gaughan to sentence Van Dyke to a prison term of 18 to 20 years. His defense team had asked that he be released on probation.
Gaughan sentenced him to 81 months, or six years nine months. Illinois state law requires he serve at least 50 percent of the sentence under the 2nd degree murder statute. He’s already served about three months as he awaited sentencing, so Van Dyke could potentially be out of prison in a little more than three years.
“This is a tragedy for both sides,” Gaughan said.
Police called to a parking lot on the Southwest Side of Chicago on the evening of Oct. 20,2014 on reports of a person breaking into trucks and stealing radios arrived to find the 17-year-old McDonald walking erratically in the street with a small knife.
Van Dyke pulled up to the scene, got out of his squad car and within seconds opened fire.
“Jason Van Dyke’s conduct has been devastating for the McDonald-Hunter family,” Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahon said. “His conduct has been devastating to the Chicago Police Department as well.”
Authorities said after the shooting that McDonald had lunged at Van Dyke with the knife and assaulted other officers. Police dashcam video appears to show McDonald veering away from officers as Van Dyke opened fire.
Van Dyke’s defense team gave the court dozens of letters from family, friends and the public asking Gaughan to show mercy.
In court Friday, Van Dyke’s wife said her husband had already paid a steep price. She said she feared for his survival if he’s sent to prison
“My biggest fear is that somebody would kill my husband for something he did as a police officer, something he was trained to do,” Tiffany Van Dye said. “There was no malice, no hatred on that night. He was simply doing his job.”
Van Dyke’s two daughters wrote that they’ve endured heartache and bullying at school since the incident. His older daughter, Kaylee Van Dyke, 17, said the media and Chicago politicians have unfairly maligned her father.
“I have been bullied, teased, picked on, threatened, you name it, all because my dad did his job,” she said.
Ken Watt, a retired Chicago police officer, testified that Van Dyke had earned a reputation as “hard-working, diligent, and thoughtful” among his colleagues.
“Jason was a good police officer,” Watt said.
