The man convicted of killing 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was sentenced Monday to 84 years in prison, after giving a defiant speech proclaiming his innocence in the 2013 shooting that became a symbol of Chicago’s gun violence.
Mickiael Ward, who was 18 at the time of the South Side shooting, faced a minimum sentence of 51 years on counts of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, denied he was the gunman who killed Pendleton and wounded two of her King College Prep High School classmates.
Fixing his gaze on the assistant prosecutor who led the case against him, 24-year-old Ward loudly maintained his innocence and questioned the evidence against him during a rambling, 10-minute address to the court.
“I am upset I’m the one going down for a crime I didn’t commit,” Ward said, facing toward Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Holmes. Seated in the front row of the courtroom gallery, Pendleton’s mother, Cleo Cowley Pendleton, stared at Ward and scowled.
Ward’s monologue seemed to outrage Judge Nicholas Ford, who had sentenced Ward to probation on a gun charge 15 months before Pendleton was shot. Ford pointed out that Ward was more emotional and remorseful when he gave a videotaped confession to detectives soon after Pendleton’s funeral.
“During the course of the period of time those interviews occurred you saw an erosion of his protestation of innocence,” Ford said, referring to his taped confession. “He wept in his admission. Those tears were tears of regret over his conduct, that (are) absent today, and noteworthy.”
In the courthouse lobby, Pendleton’s parents said they were satisfied with the verdict.
“It’s basically a life sentence, and I think it’s befitting,” Cleo Pendleton said. “Hadiya’s lost her life, and he’s going to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
Ward’s mother told reporters on Monday his first name was spelled Mickiael. But court records dating back to his 2013 arrest spell his first name as “Micheail.”
A jury found the now 24-year-old Ward guilty on counts of first-degree murder and aggravated battery, a verdict that came the day after a separate jury delivered a guilty verdict against his getaway driver and co-defendant, Kenneth Williams.
Ward and Williams were arrested on the day of Pendleton’s funeral, a nationally televised event attended by then-first lady Michelle Obama. Pendleton’s death came just two weeks after the King College Prep High School majorette had performed at a Washington D.C. event in honor of Barack Obama’s second inauguration. The park where Pendleton was shot was about a mile from the Obamas’ Kenwood home.
