Man who murdered Chicago cop gets life for bank robbery

CHICAGO - A Chicago man who was paroled after serving less than 20 years for the 1968 murder of a police officer has been sentenced to life in prison for a 2018 bank robbery, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Judge Gary Feinerman on Wednesday handed the sentence to David Walsh, 74, who fired five shots into the chest of Detective Young Clifton Hobson after the officer spotted Walsh with a gun while both were in a crowded Chicago bar, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Hobson had asked Walsh if he had a right to carry a gun, the newspaper reported. Walsh was sentenced to 20-to-40 years in prison.

The Sun-Times reported that after his 1983 parole, Walsh was arrested with an Uzi submachine gun, "disguises of all sorts," restraints, ski masks and bulletproof vests, according to Cook County prosecutors.

The prosecutor argued Walsh should be "securely locked up forever," after he walked into a restaurant in 1987 and robbed it using a replica of an antique gun, the newspaper reported.

Walsh got 60 years and served half of it, winning parole in October 2017.

In seeking a lengthy sentence for Walsh this year, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kerwin pointed to the man’s lengthy criminal record, noting Walsh has been repeatedly arrested since his 1983 parole.

On July 14, 2018, Walsh robbed the U.S. Bank branch on Chicago’s southwest side. He was arrested by federal agents 10 days later, after he tried to recruit an accomplice for another bank robbery, who contacted the FBI.

Walsh pleaded guilty to robbery last February, records show.

Walsh made profane threats to the lives of the judge and his family during a sentencing hearing last year after Feinerman said he would give Walsh 13 years, records show. Walsh also referred to the murder of Hobson as something that happened over 50 years ago.

"That was another century," he said according to court transcripts reported by the Sun-Times. Feinerman ended the earlier hearing after Walsh’s outburst and finished the sentencing this week.

Patrick Boyle, Walsh’s defense attorney, said his client planned to appeal his life sentence.

This story was first published on Jan. 21. It was updated on Jan. 22 to clarify that it was based on a Chicago Sun-Times story.