CHICAGO — Three men who worked as an ATM burglary crew are now accused of murdering a man in November 2021 while one of them was on pretrial release for a separate attempted murder case.
Donald Rogers, Devontae Brown, and Isiah Doss were allegedly part of a five-man burglary crew arrested on the North Side after Lake County officials tracked them there in February 2022. They are all now serving time for charges stemming from those arrests.
But authorities have now charged the trio with murdering a man on the West Side on November 13, 2021. Rogers was on bail for attempted murder at the time of the murder and ATM burglary allegations.
In court filings, prosecutors said the men stole a license plate and put it on a stolen white SUV in preparation for the crime. Chicago police tried to pull the SUV over shortly before the murder, but they terminated the chase and it escaped, officials said.
About 90 minutes later, the same stolen SUV, with the same stolen plate, rolled onto the 700 block of North Ridgeway. Its front passenger opened fire on 33-year-old Stephen Boyd as he walked on the sidewalk.
Both the rear passenger and the driver began firing.
According to prosecutors, Brown drove the white SUV to a weapons exchange eight hours after the murder, trading a .40-caliber pistol for a 9-millimeter. The person he traded guns with knew him since he was 10 years old and contacted police after the exchange, prosecutors said.
The witness gave the .40-caliber handgun to police and identified Brown as the person who brought it to him in the white SUV, according to officials.
Investigators eventually found the SUV and recovered .40-caliber and 9-millimeter casings inside the vehicle. Prosecutors said the .40-caliber casings were ejected from the gun Brown traded after the murder.
Two phones belonging to Brown pinged in the area of the license plate theft, the SUV theft, the chase, the murder, and the gun exchange, prosecutors allege. They have filed a motion to seek a 25-year sentencing enhancement against Brown, should he be convicted.
In another filing, prosecutors said Doss was seen inside the white SUV on police and private surveillance videos. He was the first to shoot at Boyd, who collapsed to the ground, according to a detention petition. Rogers fired second, followed by Brown, the petition stated.
Rogers, 21, Doss, 24, and Brown, 25, are each charged with first-degree murder.
Rogers continues to fight the attempted murder case that was filed against him at the age of 17.
In that case, prosecutors said he shot a 19-year-old man in the first block of South Leamington on March 26, 2020, leaving the victim paralyzed. In a court filing, the prosecutor stated that the video showed him firing at the man and then removing his ski mask while still on camera.
Three Chicago police officers identified him from the video after he removed the mask, the filing said. Rogers’ mother was present when detectives interviewed him about the murder, and she identified him from the video images, according to the document.
Judge Mary Marubio set bail for Brown at $100,000 in July 2020. A bond slip shows that his mother quickly posted a 10% deposit to get him out.
He is the 80th person charged with killing, shooting, or trying to kill someone in Chicago while on felony pretrial release in 2021. The crimes involved 116 victims, 35 of whom died.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others on pretrial release for a felony allegation. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.
On September 18, 2023, Illinois eliminated cash bail entirely. Our “not horrible” continues.
The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people awaiting trial for felony allegations is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has brought charges in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data.
This story is made possible by contributions to the Cook County Courtroom Transparency Fund.
