Both sides in the murder trial of a former Chicago police officer said Friday that the victim died on a dirty, slushy street on a cold February night because of betrayal, but they differed on who had betrayed whom.
Prosecutors say Edward Leak, 45, a nephew in the family that owns the longtime Leak and Sons Funeral Home on the South Side, ordered the killing of his friend and business partner to collect on a $500,000 insurance policy he had taken out on Fred Hamilton.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a case of murder for hire,” said Cook County Assistant State’s Atty. Ursula Walowski in the opening of the double jury trial in Cook County Circuit Court.
But the defense said it was Leak who was betrayed; Hamilton, 35, stole money from the family business and skipped out on paying money he owed to Leak, said defense lawyer Ron Menaker.
Leak had simply asked co-defendant John Brown’s help in tracking down Hamilton to collect on the debt, Menaker said. Instead, Brown, who was aware of the life insurance policy, decided on his own to kill Hamilton in a plot to extort the money from Leak.
In explaining Leak’s association with Brown, Menaker said, “Like other police officers who use someone who is a bad guy to find another bad guy, he thought, maybe I can use this guy as an informant.” But Menaker said Leak got more than he bargained for.
On Feb. 3, 2004, Hamilton a former limo dispatcher at Leak and Sons, was preparing to get his car towed when a masked gunman emerged from the dark and shot him several times. According to prosecutors, one of the car’s tires had been punctured by Brown of the 1200 block of West 76th Street and another co-defendant, Alfred Marley, 46, of the 7700 block of South Aberdeen Street. Marley pleaded guilty to first degree murder and received a 27-year prison sentence. He is expected to testify for the prosecution.
The trial resumes Monday.
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kataiyero@tribune.com
