(The Associated Press circulated the following on September 3, 2009.)
CHICAGO — An angry former boyfriend has been convicted of paying an associate to fire a gun into a Metra commuter train to kill the female engineer.
Jurors deliberated just one hour Thursday before convicting 49-year-old Theodore Howard of charges that could send him to prison for life.
Judge Ronald Guzman set sentencing for Dec. 14.
Admitted trigger man Telly Virgin testified Howard paid him with 14 “dime” bags of crack cocaine to kill Howard’s former girlfriend, a Metra engineer.
But there was a schedule change and the woman wasn’t on the train. The actual engineer was injured while diving to the floor to avoid the gunfire, but no one was hit by gunfire.
Virgin said he tried to avoid hitting anyone while doing what he had to do to get paid.