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Prosecutors Charge 17-year-old Girl with Murder in Botched Robbery Death

By Erin Meyer | December 20, 2012 3:11pm | Updated on December 20, 2012 4:01pm
 Brittany Watson allegedly told police the plot to rob Sherman Horton was her idea. But she told police her co-defendants "were not supposed to kill him."
Brittany Watson allegedly told police the plot to rob Sherman Horton was her idea. But she told police her co-defendants "were not supposed to kill him."
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Erin Meyer

CHICAGO — Prosecutors Thursday charged a 17-year-old girl with murder, saying she admitted to orchestrating a plot to rob a man who bragged about "living with two strippers," and texted a co-defendent just minutes before a botched robbery left the Austin man dead.

Prosecutors told a Cook County judge Thursday that Brittany Watson, 17, knew the victim.

Sherman Horton, 34, had given Watson cash and boasted about cars and women a few days before the attempted robbery Watson allegedly hatched with two co-defendants, prosectors said. She believed "that the victim was always in possession of hundreds of dollars," prosecutors said.

Watson, of the 1700 block of North Luna Avenue, was sitting in the passenger seat of Horton's car in the 5800 block of West Superior Street around 10:30 p.m., Monday when she texted a co-defendant: "wassup you want to do this lick," prosecutors said.

Minutes after she sent the location and a description of Horton's vehicle, the two co-defendants showed up, one armed with a loaded gun and the other a brick, prosecutors said.

When the suspect with the gun knocked on Horton's car window to rob him, he tried to speed away, prosecutors said. But the suspect fired multiple times, fatally striking the victim in the chest and causing him to crash in to serveral parked cars, prosecutors said.

Watson, who was in the car the whole time, was taken to West Suburban Hospital with a graze wound to her buttocks and later admitted her role to police, prosecutors said.

"I set all this up," she allegedly confessed, explaining that the two co-defendants were only supposed to rob Horton, not kill him. 

On Thursday, Judge Edward Harmening ordered Watson held in lieu of $1 million bond.

She hung her head and spoke softly when the judge asked her to confirm her identity and warned her against having any contact with witnesses if she is able to post bail.

Watson's alleged co-defendants have not been identified or charged.