The frightened witness and the long-hidden memo: Plea deal in murder case has startling back story

Three eyewitnesses identified Zeron Moody as one of two shooters who opened fire in a neighborhood park and killed 19-year-old Fontaine Sanders. Two of those people named Terreon Gathings as the other gunman. And there was a security video, Facebook postings and a fingerprint linking Moody to the stolen car used in the shooting to back up their testimony. Yet the Cook County state’s attorney’s office recently dropped murder charges against Moody and Gathings, allowing them both to plead guilty to aggravated battery with a firearm instead. The shooters had each faced up to 66 years in prison fo...