Aug. 05--Officer Thor Soderberg's widow dropped her head into her hands and sighed loudly Tuesday night when a Cook County judge rejected an insanity defense and convicted a man of the Chicago police officer's 2010 murder.
Following more than 2 1/2 hours of closing arguments, Judge Timothy Joyce concluded that Bryant Brewer wasn't mentally ill but simply chose "not to be bound by society's norms."
"The only completely truthful thing I heard from (Brewer) is that he's a cop killer," the judge said as Soderberg's widow, Jennifer Loudon, clutched a tissue in her right hand. "He brutally, callously, viciously and without compunction murdered Officer Thor Soderberg."
Joyce agreed with prosecutors' closing arguments that Brewer was able to gain control of Soderberg's service weapon after the two engaged in a physical confrontation outside a police deployment center in the Englewood neighborhood. As the officer tried to flee, Brewer shot him in the back and then fired two more shots into Soderberg's head at close range after he had fallen to the ground, the judge ruled.
Brewer appeared to fall asleep at times during Tuesday's lengthy testimony, but he showed no reaction as the judge announced his guilt. A large photo of Soderberg that a prosecutor had placed in the jury box faced him as he was led away in handcuffs by sheriff's deputies.
Brewer, 29, faces mandatory life in prison because the judge found he knowingly killed a cop. Sentencing was tentatively set for Sept. 9.
Assistant State's Attorney Brian Sexton said the real Brewer came out on the witness stand when his confused, soft-spoken mask was dropped during cross-examination and he began yelling and cursing.
"If he's that way in the courtroom, can you imagine how he is in the street?" Sexton told the judge.
In closing arguments, Brewer's lawyer, William Wolf, an assistant public defender, called the case an undeniable tragedy but contended that Brewer was in effect not legally responsible for his actions because of his mental illness.
"The mentally ill are discarded, they're ignored, they're feared," Wolf said. "We don't treat them, and that's why we're here today."
Joyce delivered a lengthy verdict, finally announcing the guilty decision after 8 p.m. He found Brewer guilty on all counts -- including the attempted murder of three other officers in addition to Soderberg's first-degree murder.
The judge concluded that the defense presented no admissible evidence that Brewer had schizophrenia. He also rejected defense arguments that police had doctored or edited out footage that was missing from police security cameras.
The highlight of the seven-day trial came last week when the defense had Brewer take the witness stand in an effort to put his mental illness on display.
He had come off as confused, easily distracted and soft-spoken when questioned by his own attorney, but he quickly grew irate under cross-examination by Sexton, often shouting out his answers.
"Aren't you proud of being a cop killer?" Sexton asked at one point.
"Hell yeah, I'm proud," Brewer replied. "I'm proud because you want me to be proud."
Brewer's lawyers pushed an insanity defense but hit a roadblock when none of their experts could say he was insane at the time of the shooting, leaving the judge with seemingly little choice.
The defense also tried to show that Brewer acted in self-defense, a tough sell in a trial over a cop killing.
"I grabbed the gun because I was scared," Brewer testified. "I believed he was going to shoot me."
Brewer's lawyers also had tried to make much of the fact that images were missing from two security cameras that should have captured the fatal confrontation.
Soderberg, 43, was one of six Chicago police officers killed in 2010, the deadliest single year since the early 1980s.
Prosecutors said at shift's end Soderberg had gone to his personal car in a parking lot adjacent to the police deployment center and begun changing his clothes for a volleyball game he planned to play in.
Brewer had climbed a fence and surprised him after Soderberg had removed his duty belt, according to prosecutors. The two engaged in a physical struggle, the gun apparently fell to the ground and Brewer was able to grab it and shoot Soderberg, prosecutors said.
Officer Lynn Casey testified she was working in the Englewood police facility when she heard what she thought were fireworks. She stepped outside to discover a bloodied Brewer and asked him if she could help, not realizing he had already shot Soderberg. Brewer opened fire.
Dramatic video from a surveillance camera that was played in court showed Casey take cover by a squad car as Brewer chased her.
"I was calling out, 'Halt!' and to drop the gun," she testified. "I, I, I do not know how many times."
Prosecutors said Brewer opened fire at a handyman and as many as five officers who responded to the sound of shots before a sergeant shot him in the chest.
Earlier Tuesday, Loudon, Soderberg's widow, wept in court as a psychiatrist testifying for prosecutors said Brewer told him he opened fire because he was ticked off with the officer.
Dr. Mathew Markos, a forensic psychiatrist who is director of the court-sponsored Forensic Clinical Services, testified that Brewer wasn't insane when he shot Soderberg. Markos testified that medical records, disciplinary reports and interviews with Brewer's family indicate he has anti-social personality disorder, not schizophrenia.
sschmadeke@tribpub.com
