Man gets 150 years in Englewood student's murder

A Chicago man was sentenced to 150 years in prison today for killing a 14-year-old honor student as he tried to shoot two other men outside her Englewood home.

Carail Weeks, 28, was convicted last month of the slaying of Starkesia Reed and the attempted murders of two drug dealers who were the intended targets. Reed, a promising Harper High School student, was inside her home preparing for school when a bullet from Weeks' AK-47 style rifled crashed through a front window in March 2006 and struck her in the head, killing her almost instantly.

Weeks' first trial in December 2008 ended in a mistrial after jurors
were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Today, Reed's mother Denise
told Circuit Judge Joseph Kazmierski that her daughter's murder
robbed the family of the joy of seeing what she would become, but she
said she held no bitterness toward Weeks.

"I don't have any hate
in my heart toward you, Carail Weeks, nor your family, in Jesus' name,"
Denise Reed said. "Maybe one day you can write me and tell me that you
have repented and found the Lord in your life. In the meantime, I pray
that God will have mercy on your soul."

Weeks declined to speak
before being sentenced. His attorney said that he felt sympathy for the
family but continued to maintain Weeks was innocent of the murder.

-- Matthew Walberg

Read full story »