Man Gets 46 Years in Elderly Ex-Lawyer's Slaying, Expected to Testify Against Ex-Client Co-Defendant
Keith Allen said he held Carl Kuhn’s wrist until he could no longer feel the 82-year-old man’s pulse as a trusted ex-client, Terry Bratcher, allegedly held a pillow over the former Illinois criminal defense attorney’s face in his suburban Chicago home one day in 2009.
That was enough to support the 22-year-old Allen’s first-degree murder plea earlier this year, for which he was sentenced Monday to 46 years in prison, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Allen is expected to cooperate and potentially testify in the state’s case against Bratcher, 44, who is awaiting trial. Authorities say he and Bratcher went to Kuhn’s home near Barlett to steal firearms from his gun collection, but suffocated him to death when he refused to give them the code for his locked safe.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-Client Charged With Killing Lawyer; Death At First Thought Natural”
ABAJournal.com: “Guilty Plea in Elderly Ex-Lawyer’s Murder Includes Promise to Testify Against Another Defendant”
