Rodell Sanders  On December 15, 1993, 19-year-old Stacy
Armstrong fell asleep while her friend, 23-year-old Phillip
Atkins, was driving her home from a party. Around 2 a.m., Atkins
woke Armstrong in Chicago Heights, a suburb south of Chicago
because a gunman was ordering them to get out of the car.  The
gunman and three other men ordered Atkins and Armstrong to walk
down an alley to a garage where the men took Atkins’ wallet. One
of the men asked Atkins if he belonged to the Mickey Cobras
street gang. When Atkins said he did, the questioner ordered one
of the others to shoot Atkins. That man shot Atkins repeatedly
and at the direction of the questioner, also shot Armstrong
three times. Armstrong lost consciousness for about 20 minutes,
and then managed to get to a nearby house and summon help.
Armstrong, though shot twice in the head, survived. Atkins was
killed.  Based on Armstrong’s description of the perpetrator
questioning of Atkins about his gang membership, police
suspected that the four men were member