COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Bryant Brewer, the man convicted last month of murdering Chicago Police Officer Thor Soderberg, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison and an additional 115 years in prison, to be served consecutively.
"He will never experience a free day in his life," Cook County Judge Timothy Joyce said Wednesday.
Soderberg "was someone who gave everything to everyone," the judge concluded after he spent more than two hours listening to final arguments and family statements. Soderberg was killed "so one person could placate his base desire to hurt others."
The veteran officer was shot with his own gun — once in his back and twice in his head — as he left work on July 7, 2010. Soderberg was in a Chicago Police Department parking lot in Englewood, and was on his way to a volleyball game when he was attacked by Brewer.
Brewer's attorneys have long argued their client was mentally ill — suffering from schizophrenia — and acted in self-defense when he shot Soderberg. They asked for a ruling of not guilty due to insanity.
But Joyce on Aug. 4 said he believed Brewer "brutally, callously, viciously and without compunction murdered Officer Thor Soderberg" before shooting at several other officers outside the station. Brewer was found guilty of first-degree murder, as well as several counts of attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery and discharge of a firearm.
Soderberg's widow Jennifer Loudon and sister Diane Sainsot comfort one another Wednesday. Photo by Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune.
At Brewer's sentencing Wednesday, Soderberg's wife, Jennifer Loudon, gave a teary-eyed testimony about her five-year marriage to Soderberg. The couple wanted to become foster parents, she said, and were ready to buy a house and a dog.
"I lost my future," Loudon told a packed courtroom as Judge Joyce handed her a tissue.
Soderberg's sister Diane Sainsot testified, "I will never miss anyone the way I miss my baby brother."
Prosecutors, who asked for consecutive sentences for Brewer, argued that Brewer was proud to kill a cop. "He's smiling now; he's happy as can be," Assistant State's Attorney Brian Sexton said as Brewer smiled, nodded and waved his fists in the air.
Assistant Public Defender William Wolf asked Joyce for leniency due to his client's alleged mental illness. "It's very easy to write off a mentally ill person and just say, 'He's a sociopath,'" Wolf said, adding that U.S. courts too often turn a blind eye to mental illness.
Brewer made a statement on his own behalf, though he spoke in a low whisper. "I've heard virtually nothing of what you've said," Joyce said as he repeatedly asked Brewer to speak up. "I've heard the words 'love,' 'cry' and 'judge.' I've heard some expletives beginning with the letters 'm' and 'f.'"
Judge Timothy Joyce on Wednesday sentenced Brewer to life in prison, plus 115 years in prison. Photo by Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune.
Though Brewer has been known to spend court appearances chair-dancing, making popping sounds with his mouth and shouting at prosecutors, Joyce said Wednesday that he does not believe Brewer is mentally ill.
Joyce claimed Brewer behaves oddly "only when it suits his purposes" and said "the fact that he acts in an aberrant manner is not proof that he is mentally ill."
Joyce sentenced Brewer to life in prison, plus 115 years to be served consecutively. Brewer received 15 years for disarming Soderberg, plus 100 years for additional charges of shooting at other police officers and a civilian.
Thor Soderberg's widow Jennifer asks folks to remember all CPD families, who worry every week @DNAinfoCHI pic.twitter.com/5vyT2zJvnD
— Erica Demarest (@ericademarest) September 23, 2015
Public defender William Wolf says he respects Judge Joyce, but disagrees with ruling pic.twitter.com/2JN9MoMMpE
— Erica Demarest (@ericademarest) September 23, 2015
According to court testimony, Brewer first encountered Soderberg on July 7, 2010, in a police parking lot in the 6100 block South Racine Avenue about 3:40 p.m. Soderberg had left work an hour early to make a volleyball game, and his partner dropped him off near his yellow Subaru hatchback.
Surveillance footage from two police cameras shows Brewer entering and exiting the parking lot. But neither camera caught what transpired in between. According to court testimony, 12 minutes of footage is missing from one camera, while eight minutes is missing from the second.
Prosecutors claim Brewer attacked Soderberg, beating him before stealing Soderberg's gun and shooting the veteran officer once in his back and twice in his face. Brewer then went on to shoot at a handyman who lived across the street, as well as several police officers who responded to the gunshots. Brewer was stopped when one of the officers shot him in the abdomen.
Bryant Brewer made faces and whispered at the judge on Wednesday. Photo by Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune.
The defense team argued that Brewer was mentally ill and suffering from schizophrenia — and that he was acting in self-defense during the fight with Soderberg. The gun fell to the ground, the attorneys argued, and Brewer responded by shooting the officer.
According to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, one bullet entered Soderberg's back, moving toward his chest. The other two hit the officer's nose and side of his face, moving downward and exiting through his neck.
Following a weeklong bench trial, Joyce ruled in August that "there is simply no evidence of schizophrenia" and that if Soderberg "was shot in the back, that's wholly inconsistent with self-defense."
Soderberg’s memorial service was held in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago.
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