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May 25, 2007 9:55 pm US/Central
Guilty Verdict Comes In On 1990 Murder Of Child
Minneapolis (AP) ―
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Marcus' body was found by his mother in his bedroom on Dec. 15, 1990. (File)
CBS
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Early Friday evening, a Hennepin County jury found Eugene Fort, 34, a one-time crack dealer, guilty of murder and murder while committing a burglary. (File)
CBS
Nearly 17 years after 11-year-old Marcus Potts was stabbed at least 44 times when he interrupted a burglary, a jury convicted a man of his murder.
Early Friday evening, a Hennepin County jury found Eugene Fort, 34, a one-time crack dealer, guilty of murder and murder while committing a burglary.
Marcus' body was found by his mother in his bedroom on Dec. 15, 1990.
On Friday, Verona Potts, took a deep breath when the verdict was read while Marcus' siblings quietly wept.
Minneapolis police Inspector Lee Edwards, who was a rookie cop at the time of the killing, said the verdict has been "a long time coming."
Edwards pushed for the case to be reopened when he led the homicide division in 2005.
The jury deliberated a few hours Thursday after getting the case late in the afternoon. They resumed deliberations Friday morning.
On the day of the killing, a trail of bloody footprints led police to a duplex where Fort lived. Fort, then 18, was arrested but later released due to a lack of evidence.
In 2001, investigators used new DNA technology to match blood found in the Fort home with Potts' DNA. Prosecutors didn't explain the time gap between the testing and his arrest in September.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
