People v. Ross

An indictment charging murder was returned against the defendant, Raymond Ross, in the criminal court of Cook County, on July 21, 1949. Upon a jury waiver and withdrawal of a plea of not guilty and the subsequent entry of a purported plea of guilty on September 22, 1949, the defendant, after a hearing in respect to aggravation and mitigation, was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of thirty-five years.

The defendant, Ross, is a colored boy and at the time of the shooting was sixteen years of age. The deceased victim, Woodley Jones, Jr., also a colored boy in his teens, was shot as a…