Torrey Lewis has been sentenced to 85 years in prison, more than two years after he was found guilty of participating in an armed robbery that killed a man outside a suburban movie theater in 2017.
While CWB Chicago did not cover the original murder case, Lewis grabbed our attention in 2024 when he was accused with having firearms after being shot while under electronic surveillance in the case. It was the second time authorities suspected him of having weapons while wearing an ankle monitor following the death.
Lewis, 32, and an accomplice attempted to steal Timothy Horace’s vehicle outside the Marcus Cinema in Country Club Hills in July 2017. However, Horace, who used a wheelchair, drove a specially adapted vehicle, which the would-be carjackers couldn’t operate, according to authorities. The burglars eventually abandoned the truck, but not before Horace was shot to death. They also stole his gold Rolex watch and money, according to prosecutors.
A grand jury produced a true bill charging Lewis with 160 counts of murder, nine counts of armed robbery, and 16 counts of attempted vehicular hijacking, and he was initially held pending trial.
In May 2020, Judge Carl Boyd reduced Lewis’ detention status, setting bond at $300,000 and allowing him to return home with electronic monitoring after depositing 10% of the sum.
Then, in April 2022, authorities went to Lewis’ home after Oak Forest police reported to the Cook County sheriff’s office that he had been involved in a domestic altercation involving a pistol. Sheriff’s officers searched the home and discovered a rifle and a handgun, both of which had been reported stolen, prosecutors claimed at the time. Lewis was charged with two minor gun crimes. The judge presiding over Lewis’ bond hearing questioned why prosecutors did not pursue felony charges.
“It looks like there are any number of charges that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office could have charged this defendant with, the domestic, the stolen handgun, the stolen guns,” Barbara Dawkins said. “This defendant may have faced any number of counts. They charged him with petty offenses, so we’re in misdemeanor bond court rather than felony bond court.”
A representative for the state’s attorney’s office later stated that the sheriff’s office filed the misdemeanor charges without getting consent for the felony counts.
In January 2023, Judge Robert Kuzas acquitted Lewis on the allegations.
However, less than a year later, while still under electronic surveillance in the murder case, Lewis was charged with illegally carrying weapons again. This time, investigators said they discovered the guns after Lewis was shot while using the SAFE-T Act’s unlimited movement provision for electronic monitoring participants.
Around 10 a.m. on January 31, 2024, Lewis was on one of his weekly “free movement” days, when people on electronic monitoring in Illinois are allowed to leave the house as long as they stay in Cook County. According to investigators, Lewis spent the day driving a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of an auto parts company in Dolton. He was shot several times inside the vehicle. According to the sheriff’s office, investigators found a rifle and a handgun in the front passenger area.
A man in the rear of the stolen automobile was also shot, as did two men outside. The sheriff’s office stated that investigations concluded that someone inside the stolen vehicle exchanged gunfire with the occupants of another vehicle.
According to the sheriff’s office, officials can’t actively follow the movements of electronic monitoring participants on free movement days because there are no constraints on where they can go in Cook County. Investigators did, however, check Lewis’ ankle monitor GPS data following the incident. They said Lewis left his residence at 8:48 a.m. and “proceeded to travel at high rates of speed throughout the South Suburbs, at times reaching speeds of over 100 miles per hour, until he arrived at the scene of the shooting.”
“There is no evidence that Lewis was attempting to do his laundry, shop for groceries, or attend religious services during his high-speed travels,” the sheriff’s office stated in a statement.
Following the event, a grand jury indicted Lewis on nine felony gun offenses. Prosecutors dismissed the charges after he received an 85-year sentence in the 2017 murder case.
After 30 months of post-trial legal maneuvering, Judge Carl Boyd has sentenced Lewis to 50 years in prison for eight charges of murder, followed by a consecutive 31-year term for two acts of armed robbery and a consecutive four-year sentence for attempted vehicular hijacking.
Lewis must serve the entirety of the murder sentence. For good behavior, he may be eligible for credit toward his robbery and hijacking sentences, as well as credit for the time he spent on electronic monitoring. After applying all eligible credits, Lewis is scheduled to be released on Christmas Eve 2096, according to prison records. He will turn 103 years old.
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