Man charged with plot to murder two witnesses in cousin's murder trial

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Chicago man is facing murder-for-hire charges, accusing him of recruiting another man to kill two witnesses in his cousin's upcoming murder trial.

Christopher Yates, 39, was charged in federal court with two counts of joint murder and one count of unauthorized delivery of a firearm and ammunition.

According to the prosecution, Yates attempted to recruit another person to kill two witnesses in the upcoming murder trial of his cousin Brandon Wilson.

“I want them both off the table,” Yates reportedly said of the two witnesses. “They both need to go the hell away.”

The indictment does not identify Wilson by name, but does provide the case number of his murder charge in Cook County. Wilson is accused of shooting Diana Black and wounding a second victim on September 13, 2020.

Wilson's trial is scheduled for October.

The indictment against Yates states that the person he planned to hire to kill the witnesses in Wilson's trial cooperated with federal investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence if convicted in a federal case in Florida.

Yates is said to have met with this person and another person who was cooperating with federal authorities in Oak Lawn on July 9 to discuss the contract killing.

During the meeting, Yates gave the person who recruited him a gun and ammo, claiming, “These are Red Tips, the ones that go through body armor, I have a new box of them.” He paid him $250 and offered to pay him more money later.

“Whatever you ask, I’ll work on it,” Yates is said to have said.

Yates is also accused of wanting anyone who happened to be near the witnesses to be killed.

Federal authorities said he also wanted the witnesses to be killed with other weapons to avoid ballistic tracking.

According to the prosecution, Yates said he committed the murders himself but knew he would be the prime suspect.

After the meeting, Yates stayed in touch with the person he recruited and gathered information about the witnesses, including pictures of his targets. He then arranged another meeting on July 30. At that meeting, he said he wanted to be shot in the head by one of the witnesses because that person had already been shot in the body once before and had not died.

Yates stayed in touch with the two federal agents while gathering intelligence on the targets, the indictment says. They finally met again on Tuesday, and Yates allegedly insisted that one of the targets must be shot in the head.

Yates was arrested the next day and made his first court appearance on August 2. A grand jury indicted him on Wednesday.

At his arraignment on Thursday, Yates pleaded not guilty to all charges.