Chicago CBS Local
June 8, 2015
A Lake County jury has convicted James Ealy of strangling his former boss during a 2006 robbery at the north suburban Burger King restaurant where he once worked, the Sun-Times is reporting.
Jurors deliberated for a little more than three hours Friday before finding Ealy guilty on one count of first-degree murder in the death of 45-year-old Mary Hutchison.
Ealy faces a minimum prison sentence of 20 years and up to life behind bars.
It’s the second time the 48-year-old has been convicted of murder, though jurors who decided this case weren’t told about his earlier convictions for a 1982 Chicago quadruple-killing.
In that earlier case, Ealy was found guilty of strangling four people in the Rockwell Gardens housing complex, including his teenage girlfriend, her 3-year-old son and her pregnant mother.
Those convictions were overturned on appeal in 1986 in a ruling that barred so much evidence from the case that prosecutors were unable to retry him for the slayings.