Hanover Park man on trial in discount store murder

Jerry Lockhart didn't wield the knife that killed Vatsala Thakkar, but he's just as responsible for her death as the teenager who did, prosecutors said at the start of his murder trial Tuesday.

Lockhart, 41, is the accused mastermind behind a Nov. 20, 2008, robbery in which Thakkar was stabbed twice in the back while working at her job at a Hanover Park discount store.

In opening statements, Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Michael Pawl said the killer, Seneca Berry, will testify he was acting on Lockhart's orders when he and another teen committed the armed robbery that led to Thakkar's murder. Another witness, he said, will testify that Lockhart later confessed while being held in the county jail.

“It's just as if he took that knife and thrust it in Vatsala's back twice,” Pawl told jurors of Lockhart.

Thakkar, 56, a mother of three from Hanover Park, was found in a pool of blood shortly before 2 p.m. outside the Dollar Plus store on the 5600 block of Arlington Drive East.

Earlier that day, prosecutors said, Lockhart met with two teens Berry, then 15, and Dewaun Tate, then 17 to plan a robbery from his nearby home.

Pawl said the original plan was for the teens to distract Thakkar so Lockhart could “grab the cash.” But Lockhart backed out, he said, after spotting a police cruiser while walking to the store.

Afterward, prosecutors said, the teens returned to Lockhart's home to split up $135 stolen in the robbery.

Assistant Public Defender Tony Coco said both witnesses expected to testify about Lockhart's alleged involvement have reasons to lie.

He suggested Berry, who is now serving a 17-year prison term, implicated Lockhart our of retribution because Lockhart told police he saw the teen in the area around the time of the murder. Coco said the teen also implicated a fourth man who had nothing to do with the robbery.

Both Berry and the jailhouse witness also might have been hoping for breaks in their own criminal cases in exchange for their cooperation, Coco said.

“Seneca Berry was a drowning man dragging other people down with him,” Coco said. “All roads lead through Seneca Berry.”

The trial resumes Wednesday.