Trial opens for three men accused of brutal 2004 murders of 3

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Deandre Greer

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Updated: February 16, 2012 9:49AM

By the end of a spree in July 2004 that aimed to steal drugs and cash from an alleged dealer in south suburban Robbins, three people were dead at three crime scenes in Robbins and Chicago, and a fourth who somehow survived had bullets in his head.

Carmalita Taylor, 32, and Terrence Martin were bound and tortured and finally shot, execution-style on July 6, 2004, in the Robbins apartment where they lived rent-free in exchange for watching it for Ryan Jernigan, prosecutors said Monday at the start of trial.

William Smith, the enforcer, and gunman Samuel Dupree busted in, looking for money and drugs they believed Jernigan kept there, following a plan conceived by Deandre Greer, prosecutors said.

“This is what I do. This is how I feed my kids: I kill people,” Dupree told Martin before unleashing a stream of bullets into his head, Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Kosman said.

He also shot Taylor, Kosman said, whose hands and feet also were bound.

Smith and Dupree, now both 40, along with Greer, 30, are standing trial at the county courthouse in Markham in a rare instance where a separate jury is hearing each man’s case.

After shooting Taylor and Martin, they lured Jernigan, 23, to the apartment, desperate for cash, and whisked him away in a car, along with a friend, Cameron Young, 24, who just happened to be with him that night, prosecutors said. And they called Jernigan’s friends, looking for ransom.

Young’s body was found by the side of the road near 125th and Doty, shot in the head, Kosman said. Later on July 7, Jernigan’s body also was found in the middle of the street in the 5700 block of South Perry, shot through the head at close range, prosecutors said.

“Ryan Jernigan gets the signature Dupree treatment: four to the head, contact wounds,” Kosman told jurors.

James Massey, their one-time codefendant, has struck a plea deal with prosecutors for a 15-year prison sentence on an aggravated kidnapping charge in exchange for his testimony. The others, who’d faced the death penalty before the state banned it, could go to prison for life if convicted of the first-degree murder and attempted murder charges.

Except Martin’s identification of the two alleged assailants who charged into the Robbins apartment that evening isn’t dependable given the trauma he suffered, said attorneys for Smith and Greer. Massey will say anything to keep his plea deal, they said.

And phone records showing 50 phone calls between cousins Dupree and Greer between noon on July 6 and noon July 7 only prove that they sell drugs, their attorneys said.

“The use of the telephone is why Deandre sits here today,” Assistant Public Defender John Wilson said on Greer’s behalf. “You won’t hear the content of those calls.”

Testimony continues Wednesday before Judge Luciano Panici.