The officer, Jason Van Dyke, became the city’s first patrolman in almost 50 years to be convicted of murder. The teenager, Laquan McDonald, became a national symbol of police brutality. The city’s police department was overhauled. And the powerful mayor, battered by the fallout, stunned Chicago by announcing he would not run again.
On Friday, Van Dyke, an officer no longer, was sentenced to just shy of seven years in an Illinois prison for second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, one for every bullet he fired on that October night in 2014. Though an appeal is possible, the sentence provided a measure of finality.
But the final chapter left few people satisfied.
Laquan’s great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, said it was a qualified victory that a police officer was going to prison for murder. But he said the sentence was far too short, and reduced Laquan to “a second-class citizen.”
But Van Dyke’s family had pleaded for leniency. His lawyers submitted to the judge dozens of letters from supporters, including a plea from one of his two daughters, who said she fell into a depression after the verdict.
In the end, Judge Vincent Gaughan, of the Cook County Circuit Court, acknowledged that “this is a tragedy for both sides.”
“This is not pleasant and this is not easy,” Gaughan said in delivering his ruling.
Van Dyke’s sentencing comes only one day after the acquittals of three fellow police officers who were accused of attempting to cover up his crime.
Prosecutors had asked Gaughan to sentence Van Dyke to at least 18 years in prison.
Just before learning his sentence, Van Dyke read a short statement.
Shooting Laquan was “the last thing I ever wanted to do,” said Van Dyke. “People have the right to judge my actions, however no one knows what I was thinking in that critical moment.”
Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor, said he was satisfied with the sentence even though it was much less than what he had sought.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.