Prosecutors won't seek death penalty in Hoffman Estates teen's death

Cook County prosecutors announced Thursday they will not seek the death penalty for Matthew Zucco, 21, and Clinton Johnson, 23, charged with the 2008 slaying of a Hoffman Estates teen.

Police say Zucco, of the 8000 block of South Applewood Court in Hanover Park, and Johnson, of the 100 block of Crestwood Drive in Streamwood, intended to rob 19-year-old Joseph Ziegler when they entered his home on the morning of Sept. 4, 2008, but shot him instead.

After fleeing the scene, they dumped the gun and bullets into a sewer and burned their clothes in a firepit at Johnson's home, prosecutors said during the defendants' bond hearings earlier this year.

The case had grown cold until a tip led authorities to Zucco and Johnson. The tip came from April's major drug sweep of the Northwest suburbs spearheaded by the Arlington Heights police and the Chicago office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder. If convicted of Ziegler's death, they could face 20 to 60 years in prison. If convicted of using a firearm, they face an additional 25 years in prison.