Elgin man gets 39 years for murder

A convicted drug dealer was sentenced Thursday to 39 years in prison for a 2006 murder outside an Elgin apartment complex.

Decarlo Harris, 26, of Elgin, must serve the term consecutive to a 9-year prison sentence he is already serving for an unrelated drug conviction, Judge Patricia Piper Golden said.

A Kane County jury in July convicted Harris of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 20-year-old Dwayne Johnson, who was gunned down in May 2006 at Buena Vista Apartments, 1255 Fleetwood Drive.

Johnson was killed moments after a previous shooting in the same complex, formerly known as the Mill. Prosecutors have described the fatal shooting as an example of "street justice" that Harris carried out after he was a target of the earlier gunfire.

While Golden said Thursday she agreed with Harris' attorney that the fatal attack was provoked by the earlier shooting, "this was not a case of justified murder," referring to Harris' claim he fired the deadly shot in self-defense.

Harris, who faced between 20 and 60 years in prison, declined to make a statement in open court. By statute, he must serve 100 percent of the 39-year sentence.