By Lauren Fitzpatrick
Chicago Sun-Times
COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Eighteen years before he gunned down Officer Nathaniel Taylor Jr. on Sept. 28, 2008, Lamar Cooper fired shots at another on-duty Chicago police officer.
Officer Ronald Simmons described Tuesday how Cooper turned and shot at him three times in July 1990, and how he never had time to fire back in the alley on Chicago’s South Side.
Then Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford sentenced Cooper to life in prison for killing Taylor, 39, saying, “I hope you live a long, long life behind bars so you can remember what you did for the rest of your life.”
Assistant State’s Attorney James McKay recited the rest of Cooper’s criminal history in urging the maximum sentence, lamenting that the death sentence Cooper originally faced was no longer an option, because Illinois banned capital punishment last year.
Still, Cooper, 40, faced a mandatory life sentence because a Cook County jury decided in January that he knew - or should have known - that Taylor was a police officer when he opened fire.
Jurors rejected Cooper’s claims that he couldn’t see Taylor’s badge and thought he was about to be robbed as the narcotics officer approached his car in the 7900 block of South Clyde. Taylor’s partner returned fire and shot Cooper nine times.
Cooper was found guilty of Taylor’s murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance for the drugs recovered in his Southeast Side home.
Cooper did not testify in his own defense at the trial in January. But he spoke to the judge Tuesday and blamed his attorneys for doing a poor job of defending him. He called both of his public defenders “ineffective and incompetent,” saying one slept through the trial.
He then offered an apology: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the deceased officer . . . and to my own wife and kids. God bless them all.”
Taylor is survived by an 8-year-old daughter whose mother, Monlade Gogins, told the judge how terrible it was to break the news of Taylor’s death to the little girl.
“I can still remember her face and the hurtful cries she let out. Her amazing hero was gone,” Gogins read.
“Being a dad came easy for Nate because he was a wonderful person.
“I am a forgiving person and see good and God in everyone no matter what,” Gogins continued, turning to Cooper. “I have no choice to forgive and hope you have asked your Savior for forgiveness.”
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