CHICAGO — An Indiana man who admitted to straw-purchasing the handgun later used to kill Chicago police Officer Ella French and critically wound her partner during a traffic stop last year was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison.
The sentence, half the five-year maximum Jamel Danzy could have received, was handed down in a courtroom full of Chicago police officers after Elizabeth French, the mother of Ella French, addressed the court. French said she had last spoken with her daughter right before her fateful shift. They spoke of vacation plans and Elizabeth told her daughter to be careful and safe, and that she loved her.
“I am forever grateful that I got the chance to say something,” she told U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman.
