Murder of Eric Morse

Eric Morse was a five-year-old African-American boy from Chicago, Illinois, who was murdered in October 1994. Morse was dropped from a high-rise building in the Ida B. Wells Homes by 10-year-old Jesse Rankins and 11-year-old Tykeece Johnson. Morse's murder was notable for the young ages of the victim and the killers, and brought further national attention to the plight of children in Chicago's housing projects. Rankins and Johnson, both minors at the time, were convicted for the murder of Morse and sentenced to five years' imprisonment each. Murder: On October 13, 1994, two of five-year-old Eric Morse's schoolmates, Jesse Rankins (aged 10 years old) and Tykeece Johnson (aged 11), had asked him to steal candy from a store, but Morse refused. At around 6-7 P.M. (CDT) that day, Rankins and Johnson took Morse and his 8-year-old brother Derrick Lemon to a vacant apartment on the 14th floor of a high-rise building in the Ida B. Wells Homes, a housing project in Chicago's South Side. Rankins and Johnson dangled Morse out of a window of the apartment, resisting attempts by Lemon to intervene, and then dropped him. Morse suffered massive head injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Aftermath- Conviction and sentencing: The Illinois legislature enacted a law permitting 10-year-old children to be sentenced to prison. Rankins and Johnson were convicted of first-degree murder and were sentenced to the maximum term of 5 years. Rankins served an additional 9 years for sexually assaulting another inmate during a gang attack. After their initial releases, both men returned to prison repeatedly for other offenses. Derrick Lemon, Morse's older brother who struggled to save Eric in the moments before he was dropped, received a lawsuit settlement in Eric's death for more than $1 million from the Chicago Housing Authority and a private management company. Lemon is now himself currently serving a 71-year murder sentence for the fatal shooting of his aunt's boyfriend at a barbecue in 2006. Public reaction: Morse's death was cited nationally in speeches by politicians including President Bill Clinton and then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Henry Cisneros, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, called it a clinching fact in the federal government's decision to take over the troubled Chicago Housing Authority.