A Will County jury found a Lockport man guilty Tuesday of the 2011 murder of Deonte Lesley, a 14-year-old boy playing video games in a home in Lockport, Sun-Times Media is reporting.
Vernon McCormick, 24, of Lockport sprayed bullets into the home in the 400 block of Fairmont Avenue, hitting Lesley, 16-year-old Jordan Edwards and 17-year-old Shadon McDonald. Lesley was shot in the head and died at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet. The other two teens were wounded.
Moments after McCormick's conviction, Lesley's mother said her son lives on even in death.
"Part of him still walks the Earth," Antoinette Walker said.
That's because she agreed to donate her son's eyes, skin, tissue and bones to people who needed them. And just last week she mailed paperwork so she'll get to meet the recipients. They've already sent her letters.
One recipient, who signed her letter Mickaela, said she needed tissue because she rolled her Jeep three times. She said she'd just taken her seat belt off to reach for a Kleenex when she went off the road and overcorrected.
"Without the tissue donation," Mickaela wrote, "I wouldn't be able to walk or lead a normal life."
It took McCormick's jury about four hours to convict him on three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated discharge of a weapon.
Prosecutors said he faces life in prison when he's sentenced Sept. 26.
Walker said listening to McCormick's trial was difficult, especially when she had to listen to a recording of the 911 call. Though she said she forgives McCormick for what happened, she said justice was finally served with Tuesday's verdict.
"I no longer have to wonder who was responsible for my son's death," Walker said.
