Jim McPherson gets 60 years for killing Janay McFarlane, ruling stands
The 60-year sentence for Jim McPherson, convicted last fall of killing 18-year-old Janay McFarlane in North Chicago, a ruling that has been upheld by a Lake County Circuit Court judge on Thursday.
Judge George Strickland denied a motion by defense attorney James Schwarzbach to reconsider the sentence handed down earlier this month and now the case will move towards appeals.
While McFarlane’s teen sister was at a President Obama anti-gun rally in Chicago on Feb. 15, 2013, McPherson, 22, shot and killed the man and was found guilty of first-degree murder in November for North Chicago alley killing.
The prosecutors said McPherson targeted the group McFarlane was with in a liquor store minutes before the shooting, and then ambushed them in the alley, about a block away.
During the trial, police gang experts testified that McPherson is a member of the Gangster Disciples, a claim that was conceded is true, although he denied it was a factor in the case.