Gunman found guilty of murdering CPD Cmdr. Paul Bauer

Shomari Legghette, right, listens to his guilty with his attorney Scott Kamin at his murder trial at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Friday, March 13, 2020. | Antonio Perez/pool/Chicago Tribu

A Cook County jury Friday found a four-time felon guilty of murdering Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer.

Shomari Legghette, 46, was found guilty on all counts of murder and armed violence charges.

The jury also found that Legghette knew Bauer was a police officer when he shot him in a downtown stairwell in February 2018.

Defense attorney Scott Kamin maintained that Bauer’s blue coat concealed his badge and uniform.

Bauer’s family put out a statement, thanking the prosecution team, witnesses to the crime and the jury.

“Today is a bittersweet day for everyone who loved Paul,” the statement from the family read. “We are so happy and relieved with the verdict, but we are overwhelmed with sadness that he is no longer with us.”

State’s Attorney Kim Foxx also released a statement Friday afternoon.

“We welcome today’s guilty verdict and the justice it brings to the family of Commander Paul Bauer, the Chicago Police Department, and the citizens of Chicago,” Foxx said. “This senseless murder ended the life of an honorable man and highly regarded public servant...This tragic case is a sober reminder of the dangers that police officers and first responders face in their daily work to keep us all safe. We hope that this verdict will provide some measure of comfort and closure for Commander Bauer’s loved ones.”

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx hugs Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier in the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse after Shomari Legghette was found guilty of murdering Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer, Friday afternoon, March 13, 2020.

When the verdict was announced, Legghette showed no reaction.

Jurors sat through seven days of testimony, hearing from witnesses and watching footage from police surveillance cameras and cellphone video taken by a cabbie who captured Bauer chasing Legghette near the Thompson Center.

For closing arguments Friday, three rows of benches in the courtroom were filled by Bauer’s widow, Erin, and other relatives and supporters. CPD officers, in and out of uniform, filled the rows behind them.

Erin Bauer, left, the widow of slain Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer, listens in during closing statements for Shomari Legghette at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Friday, March 13, 2020.

Legghette’s defense hinges on whether jurors believe his account of what happened in the 30 seconds or so after he and 53-year-old Bauer tumbled down the stairwell and gunshots rang out.

Kamin said Legghette was a small-time drug dealer who made a habit of wearing body armor and carrying a pistol as a precaution against rivals. Legghette didn’t realize Bauer was a police officer even as he chased him, Kamin maintained.

Making the case to convict Legghette of first-degree murder, Assistant State’s Attorney John Maher pointed out that the two men were in the stairwell for 25 seconds, and that Legghette was larger and stronger than Near North District commander. The first of six gunshots that hit Bauer, Maher said, was to the chest, and another shot hit Bauer on the inner forearm — indicating Bauer was facing Legghette and holding his handcuffs.

Prosecuting attorney John Maher gives his closing statement during the murder trial of Shomari Legghette on March 13, 2020, at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

“Outmuscled, outsized, outgunned. Cmdr. Bauer is down there 25 seconds before [Legghette] pulled the trigger. His radio squawking, his cuffs out,” Maher said. “When those cuffs came out, Legghette knew he was going back, and that was not going to happen. So he [Legghette] shot him down.”

Kamin, asked jurors to focus on the mundane start to the foot chase, when tactical officers called out to Legghette on Lower Wacker Drive after spotting him either urinating on a support column or preparing to do so. Legghette turned away and jogged up a stairway to street level, assuming officers would not pursue him, Kamin said.

“You’re jaywalking, urinating in public, are police going to chase you for that... in Chicago?” Kamin said.

Shomari Legghette, right, listens to his attorney Scott Kamin’s closing statements during his trial at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Friday, March 13, 2020.

Legghette was unaware the officers on Lower Wacker had broadcast his description on police radio, Kamin said. Bauer, responded to that call for help, began chasing after Legghette near Clark Street across from the Thompson Center. Eventually, he grabbed ahold of Legghette near the top of the stairwell — but never announced he was a police officer, Kamin said.

“It wasn’t Cmdr. Bauer’s job to work a beat, to chase after people,” Kamin said. “He forgot that he didn’t appear as a police officer. Other people wouldn’t see him as a police officer, they would see him as a person using violence.”

During his opening statements, Kamin told jurors Legghette would take the stand to describe his state of mind as he struggled with Bauer. But Legghette ultimately opted not to testify.

Legghette faces multiple counts of first-degree murder and armed violence, though Erika Reddick did approve jury instructions explaining the elements of self-defense and for a second-degree murder.