Man Commits Murder Over Pot Plant

 Posted on October 12,2013 in Chicago News

Christopher Shoji, 25, of North Center, was charged with murder and misdemeanor cannabis production, after allegedly stabbing his best friend to death in an incident involving an argument over a marijuana plant, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The incident occurred outside a mutual friend’s basement apartment late on a Monday night, reports the Sun-Times, and immediately following the stabbing Shoji “ran to his mother’s house, pulled out the 4-to-5-foot long illegal plant, came back to the friend’s apartment and hid in her closet with the pot where police found him,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Latoya Croswell told the Sun-Times. He had allegedly already admitted his crime to the friend in whose closet he was hiding.

Solomon Morales and Shoji had been best friends for years, a fact which Archimides Morales, brother of the deceased, told the Sun-Times was “the worst part about it. We saw [Shoji] all the time. We always had him at our house for dinner and to drink… I gave Chris the clothes off my back…. he was family.” Attorney Croswell said that Shoji had told her that he was frightened of Morales, afraid that he was going to ”snitch” about the pot plant, which prosecutors have taken as a motive in the case. Morales didn’t die at the scene of the crime, however. He “died at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where his family took him after he was able to walk home, leaving a trail of blood from his friend’s home,” reports the Sun-Times.

Despite the shocking facts surrounding the Shoji case, primarily that the victim and he were best friends, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, in 2009 the majority of all murders committed were committed by someone the victim knew. In 2009, 53.8 percent of murder victims were killed by someone they knew, and 41.2 percent of all murders occurred during arguments, such as the one between Morales and Shoji.

If you or someone you know has been accused of a crime such murder, don’t go through it alone. The most important first step is to contact an experienced Chicago criminal defense attorney today.