People v. Simmons

Defendant, George Simmons, was found guilty by a jury in the circuit court of Winnebago County of two charges of murder and sentenced to two concurrent terms of 30 to 60 years in the penitentiary.

Defendant, 16 years of age, was one of several boys living on Rockford’s west side, who over a period of approximately a week had engaged in a running dispute with some boys from Freeport, who were visiting in Rockford. On at least two occasions shots had been fired. On July 8, 1970, 11 to 16 shots were fired from a rooftop across the courtyard from an apartment in a public housing project where the…