13-year-old ordered held in jail until he's 21 years old

August 9, 2006 - As punishment for fatally shooting a 26-year-old man during a dice game in November 2005, a Cook County Juvenile Court judge ordered Wednesday that a now 13-year-old boy remain in the Department of Corrections until he is 21 years old.

Juvenile Court Judge Rodney Hughes Brooks earlier this year had found the boy, whose name was not released, delinquent of first-degree murder. As punishment, Brooks ordered the boy remain held in the Illinois Department of Corrections until he is 21, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
The boy was 12 when he fatally shot Dean McGary, 26, during a street dice game in the pre-dawn hours on the Far South Side in November 2005, prosecutors argued. The boy began shooting after his cousin, then 17, quarreled with and then began fighting with McGary, according to prosecutors.

One witness said the boy's cousin ordered the boy to shoot. The cousin has not been charged with a crime.

Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006