the charges are read, never once glancing at his tormentors in the jury box.  The judge asks him if he actually did all this. “Yes.”  Do you have anything to say? “Nope.”

The sentence, of course, has already been hammered out among the lawyers.  In Illinois, trying to kill a police officer will get you 6-to-30 years, so the state’s attorney initially asked for 25. But De-De is well spoken, well mannered, and his family is well connected to the church. Over a hundred letters came from all over the community saying what a fine young man he is, that his parents are decent churchgoing people, that he got off on wrong track and got crazy, that he should be released, that he was set up. And then the case was assigned to a liberal judge.  The state’s attorney said this particular judge could conceivably give De-De the minimum. Goff thought that was bizarre. “I just got some fifteen-year-old kid six years for selling twenty grams of coke.” Now here they were talking about giving the same rap to a guy who had just tried to blow away three police officers.  Goff said, “Okay, if the judge tries to give him six, I'll have his whole courtroom filled with Fraternal Order of Police members.” Goff and the boys agreed to go down to twenty years. In the end everybody settled on fifteen.

Like a slave in the dock, De-De stands in prison garb, hands behind his back, head slightly bowed, as the judge hands him 15-years for each attempt on 3 counts—Goff, Freeman, and Fisher—plus 15 years for the dope and the pistol he pitched out the window—plus 15 years for the dope and pistol in the car—a total of 75 years. But the sentences will run concurrently. Since he’s already served 21 months—and since he’s eligible for parole at the half-way mark—De-De will be back on the streets in five and a half years.

“It was good for De De,” says Goff. “In his gang he'll be elevated in rank. One: he kept his mouth shut—two: he did hard time in the joint—three: he tried to kill police. He'll be elevated substantially and he was pretty high to begin with. He'll be a regent. Or they may make him a governor.” That would be good