Straw purchaser of gun used to kill Officer Ella French gets over 2 years

CHICAGO - The so-called straw purchaser of the gun used to kill Chicago Police Officer Ella French and seriously wound her partner was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison by a federal judge.

Prosecutors earlier this month asked U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman to give the maximum five-year prison sentence to Jamel Danzy of Indiana, the only person convicted so far in connection with French’s death.

The Chicago Police Department also delivered 80 pages of letters to the judge asking him to hand down the toughest sentence. Danzy’s sentencing is expected to draw a large police presence to the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

"I want to hug my full-of-life baby girl again," Ella French’s mother, Elizabeth French, told the crowded courtroom.

Turning to Danzy, French said: "What gives you the right to think you deserve anything less than the full penalty allowed by law. Your choice took my daughter from me forever."

French and others asked the judge to impose for the maximum penalty but argued five years wasn’t enough.

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Danzy spoke to the court, taking responsibility for his role in French’s death.

"I hope that everyone can see that I’m a great person inside and out," Danzy said.

In announcing the sentence, Gettleman said, "I feel the grief and I feel the anger that I’ve witnessed in this proceeding today. … Anger and grief basically lead to vengeance."

While not going along with the call for the maximum sentence, Gettleman said there was a need to imprison Danzy for more than 10 to 16 months under the sentencing guidelines to send a message to other straw purchasers.

Elizabeth French removed her mask and wiped tears from her eyes as the judge handed down the sentence.

Officers Carlos Yanez, Joshua Blas and French stopped a Honda CR-V driven by Eric Morgan on Aug. 7, 2021, around 63rd Street and Bell Avenue. Morgan’s brother, Emonte, was also in the car along with a gun purchased by Danzy, prosecutors said.

During that stop, Emonte Morgan opened fire with the gun, killing French and shooting Yanez in the head multiple times, according to the feds. Eric Morgan then allegedly fled with the .22-caliber pistol and still had it when he was later arrested.

A litany of felonies has been filed in state court against the Morgans, including murder charges against Emonte Morgan. The brothers have pleaded not guilty.

However, Danzy pleaded guilty this summer to a conspiracy to commit federal firearm offenses. At the time, he admitted that Eric Morgan had asked him to buy a gun in March 2021. He agreed to do so, even though he knew Eric Morgan was a convicted felon.

Danzy bought the pistol, a Glock Model 44, from a federally licensed firearms dealer in Hammond, Indiana. He also filled out a form falsely certifying that he was buying the gun for himself.

But Danzy knew that Eric Morgan took the gun back and forth between Danzy’s home in Hammond and Chicago. He last saw the gun under his bed a few days before French’s death, prosecutors said.

Danzy also admitted in July that he purchased another semiautomatic pistol for his cousin, who was also a convicted felon.

French’s death followed a visit by Attorney General Merrick Garland to Chicago to launch an initiative meant to curb gun violence, in part, by targeting straw purchasers.

Such cases present special challenges to prosecutors. They have been characterized as "paperwork" crimes that simply involve lying on a form, as Danzy did. Straw purchasers also have clean criminal records, which help them buy firearms but can also aid them at sentencing.

Prosecutors argue that straw purchasers essentially weaponize their clean records.