46 years for murder of Bartlett lawyer in gun heist
A man who claims he was conned into aiding in the murder of a retired Bartlett-area attorney was sentenced to 46 years in prison Monday for his role the 82-year-old war veteran’s slaying during a robbery of his prized gun collection.
Keith Allen, 22, of Chicago pleaded guilty in February to felony murder in the Aug. 21, 2009, death of Carl W. Kuhn. The alleged mastermind of the killing, 44-year-old Terry Bratcher of West Chicago, has pleaded innocent and is awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said the men conspired to steal Kuhn’s antique firearm collection as a way to recoup money Bratcher owed Allen for fixing a computer earlier that day.
The situation turned violent when Kuhn refused the perpetrators’ demands and was led, blindfolded, to an upstairs bedroom and suffocated with a cushion.
Authorities said they arrested the two suspects after Bratcher’s mother discovered a cache of 43 guns in her garage and contacted police.
Allen pleaded guilty under an agreement that prosecutors would seek a prison term of no more than 50 years. Although he claimed he was duped into accompanying Bratcher, DuPage County Judge Blanche Hill Fawell pointed out he did nothing to stop the killing.
“I don’t have any doubts this crime was not (Allen’s) idea,” she said. But, “You could have walked away.”
Allen said Bratcher, once a friend of Kuhn’s, told him to wait in a car outside the elderly man’s home until he received a call on a cell phone. At that point, he said, he was to enter Kuhn’s home with a loaded handgun and pretend to rob Bratcher in an attempt to get the victim to turn over cash or guns.
Instead, Allen said, the men covered Kuhn’s head with a jacket and led him upstairs to a bed, where he was placed face down. Allen said he checked the victim’s pulse as Bratcher suffocated him with a cushion, then returned to the car while Bratcher gathered the firearms.
“I apologize for being naive and so stupid for letting him con me into this situation,” Allen told the judge. “I was afraid and I didn’t know if Terry would harm me. I didn’t know the area, and I didn’t know how to get home.”
But State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Allen’s involvement was far from forced.
“He was a willing participant who went along every step of the way,” Berlin said. “This defendant knew what was going on.”
Kuhn’s son, Evan Kuhn, called the killing at his father’s home in an unincorporated area near Bartlett an “evil, uncivilized” act that devastated the family and friends of an “honorable, noble man.”
He said his father, a retired longtime criminal defense attorney, was an Army veteran who served in World War II and went on to collect firearms and train people how to safely use them.
“I’m in disbelief that my father lost his life due to his hobby and passion,” Kuhn said. “I wish the defendant could feel the horror and pain he has caused our lives.”
Allen, an information technology student who had no prior criminal history, showed little reaction to his sentence. His attorney had sought a 20-year term.
Allen must serve his entire sentence. With credit for time in the county jail since his arrest, he would be eligible for parole when he is 66.
Bratcher is scheduled to stand trial in September. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison, prosecutors said.