COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Thomas Wortham III broke down crying in court Wednesday as he held his son's badge and recalled the slain Chicago Police officer's final moments in 2010.
"I told him it would be all right, just hold on," Wortham, 68, testified. "He said, 'It hurts.'"
Wortham's son — a Chicago Police officer and Iraq War veteran named Thomas Wortham IV — was gunned down outside the family's Chatham home during a botched robbery on May 19, 2010.
Last year, two men were convicted of Wortham IV's murder and sentenced to life in prison. On Wednesday, a trial began for Marcus Floyd, 24, the third and final man charged.
"They did something that two tours of duty in Iraq could not: They took his life," Assistant State's Attorney Michael Deno said during his opening argument.
As the trial began Wednesday morning, Wortham III recounted the fatal attack for a jury.
Wortham IV had stopped by his parents' house on May 19, 2010, to show them his new motorcycle and photos from a recent trip to Washington D.C., his father testified.
As the 30-year-old Wortham left that evening, four men allegedly tried to steal his motorcycle at gunpoint. According to prosecutors, Brian Floyd pointed a gun at Wortham IV's head, while cousin Marcus Floyd pointed a gun at the off-duty officer's body.
Two others, Paris McGee and Toyious Taylor, acted as lookouts, prosecutors previously said.
Wortham IV told the would-be robbers he was a police officer before eventually pulling his gun and opening fire, according to court testimony. The attackers fired back. "There was instantaneous gunfire," Wortham III said.
At that point, Wortham III, a retired Chicago Police officer, ran inside and "told my wife they had shot Tommy, call police," he testified Wednesday.
Wortham III ran back outside, crouched behind his daughter's car and fired multiple rounds at the attackers, he testified.
Brian Floyd was killed, while Marcus Floyd was shot at least five times, according to prosecutors. McGee and Taylor were able to drive off.
"I saw my son's gun in the street," Wortham III said Wednesday. My son "was just lying there in the street."
Wortham IV was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short while later.
Charges were filed against the three surviving assailants: McGee, Taylor and Marcus Floyd. While McGee and Taylor were convicted last year and are currently serving life sentences, Floyd's trial was postponed until this month.
Floyd was shot five or six times during the attack and required multiple surgeries, prosecutors said. Floyd's defense team has long argued that the medical trauma left Floyd with retrograde amnesia, and that Floyd couldn't remember any of the events surrounding Wortham's death.
Prosecutors said those memories didn't matter. What was important, they argued, was whether Floyd currently had the intellectual and cognitive capacity to understand what happened and help his attorneys with his defense.
A jury on Aug. 20 found Floyd fit to stand trial.
The trial is expected to continue Thursday.
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