Crime & Safety
Montgomery Man Found Guilty Of Aurora Man's Murder: State's Attorney
After his car was shot at and forced to crash in 2020, the Aurora man, 40, suffered a fractured spine. He died five days later.
AURORA, IL — A 32-year-old Montgomery man was found guilty of first-degree murder in a crash that killed an Aurora man, officials said.
A jury also found Chuckie Chatman guilty of three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm for the shooting that occurred after midnight on Oct. 17, 2020.
Chatman remains in custody at the Kane County jail, where he has been held in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest. Judge Alice Tracy revoked his bond upon conviction.
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Chatman's next court appearance for motions and sentencing is set for Oct. 24. He faces a minimum prison sentence of 39 years.
The chain of events started because Chatman, of the 800 block of Victoria Drive in Montgomery, was upset 40-year-old Ernest Hardy was dating the mother of Chatman's children, according to the Kane County State's Attorney's Office.
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The man threatened the woman, and on Oct. 16, 2020, he went to her residence on Best Place in Aurora, but she would not allow him inside, officials said. She then called Hardy, who drove to her place.
Around midnight on Oct. 17, the two left in Hardy's car. Chatman began tailing them at high speed, prompting Hardy to accelerate and turn onto Redwood Drive. A passenger in Chatman's — officials said his identity is unknown to authorities — fired multiple gunshots at Hardy's car, hitting it four times, according to county officials.
One of the gunshots hit the rear tire of the car, causing it to skid out of control and crash into a parked car. Hardy died five days after suffering a fractured spine in the crash, officials said.
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The woman, uninjured, climbed out of the car and ran home before police arrived.
"Mr. Chatman's actions began and exacerbated a chain of events that directly led to the death of Ernest Hardy," Assistant State's Attorney William Engerman said in a statement. "He showed a distinct lack of appreciation for human life that our community does not tolerate."
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