Chicago man gets life in shooting death of police officer

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) -

Michael Flisk was Nora Flisk's "knight in shining armor," a devoted husband who went to all hischildren's baseball games and fixed their cars when they were stranded.

To daughter, Margaret, the Chicago Police evidence technician was a "blessing."

And for D'Jana Peters, her husband Stephen, was a "perfect living example of unconditional love."

The loss and devastation the women experienced after their loved ones were shot to death on theSouth Side were described in detail Friday before the men's killer was sentenced to life in prison,the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

"I have been sentenced to a lifetime of sadness and sorrow, which I fear will never subside all due toa choice you made for us," Nora Flisk told Timothy Herring in a victim-impact statement AssistantCook County State's Attorney Thomas Mahoney read in court.

D'Jana Peters told Herring that it was "hell" waiting for him to go to trial for the Nov. 26, 2010,double murders.

"Now, your hell is just beginning," an emotional D'Jana Peters said, looking at 24-year-old Herring.

"Today, these tears I display are not tears of pain but tears of closure, tears of justice, tears ofpeace."

Herring shot 46-year-old Michael Flisk and Stephen Peters, an ex-CHA cop, in the head while Fliskwas processing the crime scene from where Herring had just stole parts from Peters' prizedMustang.

Herring knew 44-year-old Peters as "Sweet Pea," but fired at him and Flisk anyway with the"precision of a trained assassin" because the then-teenage parolee didn't want to go back to jail,Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan said.

The men, despite having weapons, "were completely and utterly ambushed," the judge said asHerring looked down.

Herring used his Cook County Jail uniform to dab his eyes when assistant public defender JulieKoehler read a statement from an elderly neighbor who assured him that she loved him even thoughhe was "in trouble."

Herring's younger brother, Marcus Williamson, said Herring always woke him up for school andmade sure he kept his grades up while they were growing up.

Assistant public defender Gina Piemonte argued that Herring was a victim of a faulty criminal justicesystem that treated him like an adult when he was arrested for an armed robbery at 16.

But Mahoney said Herring was nothing but a "career criminal," who graduated from slapping a highschool teacher, to robbing a liquor store to killing two officers in the alley in the 8100 block of SouthBurnham Avenue.

Months before the murders, Herring had shot and wounded another man with the same 9 mm gun,the prosecutor said.

Margaret Flisk said it was unfathomable to her that someone could shoot her father, who she missesevery day. The memories of holding her dad's lifeless hand still covered with evidence dust, werestill fresh, she said.

"While many perceive that he was killed doing his job, I would argue he was killed doing what heloved," Margaret Flisk said.

"He never got to see retirement. He never got take that motorcycle trip. He did not get to see megraduate from college. He did not get to see my brother get married, nor meet his granddaughter. ...I will never know the physical pain my dad suffered that day, but I will, every day and until the endof my life, miss my dad."

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/29420444/chicago-man-gets-life-in-shooting-death-of-police-officer