Homeless man is convicted of 2013 murder and faces a life sentence
A Jackson County jury Wednesday evening convicted a 20-year-old homeless man of murder in the 2013 killing of Erik S. Schwartz.
In addition to the first-degree murder conviction, which carries a mandatory life sentence, jurors found Chad D. Terry Jr. guilty of armed criminal action.
In charges filed in November 2013, prosecutors said Terry was prowling Independence, looking for cars to burglarize. He saw Schwartz, a 33-year-old father of three, asleep in his vehicle, shot him in the head and stole his cigarettes, court records said.
Schwartz died later at a hospital.
Terry bragged about the shooting to associates, who also described the shooting to investigators.
| Mark Morris, mmorris@kcstar.com
This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Homeless man is convicted of 2013 murder and faces a life sentence."