Thompson found guilty in 2013 murder at Joliet restaurant

JOLIET – “Little” will be doing a lot of time.

Christopher L. Thompson, 33, will be sentenced to at least 45 years in prison after a jury Thursday – having deliberated for nearly five hours – found him guilty of the murder of Gerardo Franchini.

On Aug. 3, 2013, Franchini was eating breakfast with his wife, Edna Franchini, and her young daughter and niece at Louis’ Family Restaurant, 1001 W. Jefferson St., when Thompson came in with a girlfriend, Tuesday Henderson.

The two men had mutual friends, and Thompson told police his cousin has a child with Edna Franchini, but they did not get along. Gerardo Franchini was knocked out by Thompson during a fight outside Hollywood Casino months before, and Gerardo Franchini and his brother attacked Thompson in the bathroom at Grapevine the previous month, according to prosecutors.

On Aug. 3, Thompson and Gerardo Franchini argued in the restaurant, and Thompson left the building. About 15 minutes later, a man covering his face came into the restaurant, walked to where Gerardo Franchini was sitting and emptied an automatic pistol into him.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Fitzgerald called the slaying “ham-handed.”

“This was not a professional, coordinated hit,” Fitzgerald said during closing arguments. “The defendant was angry. ... This killing was personal, and every shot that went into Gerardo Franchini was the rage pouring out of this defendant – to settle a score.”

Edna Franchini can be heard saying “Christopher” and “Little” on a 911 call made immediately after the shooting that was played for jurors a second time Thursday. Police and several friends of Thompson who testified said he was known as “Little” on the street.

Several eyewitnesses identified Thompson as the man who argued with Gerardo Franchini and as the shooter, but defense attorney John Casey noted the driving distance from the restaurant to where Thompson dropped off Henderson and back would barely fit in the prosecution's timeline – especially if he had stopped to get a gun.

“Edna said she sees Chris. She wants it to be him, [but] she’s the only person who said there was nothing [covering] his head,” Casey said.

Prosecutor Adam Capelli told jurors the many witnesses eating at the restaurant represented "a nice cross-section of Joliet."

“There [aren’t] any biases. [Ask yourself]: Do these people have anything to lose or gain by telling the truth?” Capelli asked.

After deliberating for an hour, jurors asked to replay the interview Thompson had with police hours after Franchini was slain.

Thompson told detectives he heard from friends checking Facebook about a shooting in Louis’ parking lot and they’d been concerned he was the victim. Thompson said he had gone out to a nightclub the night before the shooting and partied too hard, returned to his grandparents’ house to sleep, taken his car to have a tire fixed and gone to the Crest Hill apartment of another girlfriend, Shannyn Barr, where officers found him later.

Henderson told police and later testified they had gone to Louis’ that morning.

Thompson said he hadn’t been there in a year and had only been there two or three times in total.

“I should go. They got some [good] burger, I heard,” Thompson told police during his interview.

Detective Mark Lauer testified that as Thompson was being taken to the booking area after the interview finished, he asked, “What can I do to make this go away? I can put some big cases on the table.”

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow addressed the verdict Thursday.

“Christopher Thompson committed an act of unrivaled brutality when he gunned down an unarmed man in a crowded restaurant while he was enjoying a meal with his wife and two little children,” Glasgow said in a statement. “His actions displayed a demonic disregard for the lives and safety of the children and everyone in that restaurant. This guilty verdict will place an extremely dangerous and volatile killer behind prison bars, where he cannot harm anyone in our community again.”

Barr was in the courtroom gallery when the verdict was read and began sobbing. Thompson remained quiet but shook his head “no” and had a stunned expression when he turned back to see his family after the jury left.