What started as a quiet federal investigation into a South Side murder case has ended with a Chicago man convicted of trying to get key witnesses killed before they could ever take the stand.
A federal jury on Monday found Christopher Yates guilty of plotting to kill two potential witnesses expected to testify in his cousin’s 2020 murder case. The verdict followed a weeklong trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago and capped a nearly two-year federal investigation into the alleged scheme. Yates now faces federal prison, with sentencing scheduled for later this year.
Prosecutors say Yates recruited two people in the summer of 2024, gave one of them a handgun and ammunition, and paid $250 as a down payment for the killings, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In recorded statements and court filings, the government says Yates repeatedly pressed the recruits to move forward, allegedly declaring, “I want them both off the board. Both of them got to [expletive] go.”
Federal officials say the plan was stopped before anyone was hurt. Yates was arrested on July 31, 2024, and has been in federal custody ever since.
Jury Finds Yates Guilty
After hearing a week of testimony and recordings, jurors convicted Yates on two counts of murder-for-hire and one count of unlawful transfer of a firearm and ammunition, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger set sentencing for Oct. 28, 2026.
According to prosecutors, the unlawful transfer count is punishable by up to 15 years in federal prison, while each murder-for-hire count carries a statutory maximum of 10 years, ABC7 Chicago reported.
Federal Enforcement Push
The case is landing at the same time as an intensified federal anti-violence push in Chicago this summer. The U.S. Attorney's Office says Operation New Dawn has driven a wave of federal charges aimed at gun crimes and violent offenses across the region.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the initiative charged 179 individuals in roughly 60 days. Prosecutors say the Yates case fits squarely into that broader strategy of using federal tools to hit alleged gun offenders and protect witnesses before threats turn into bloodshed.
Murder-for-hire indictment details first surfaced publicly in 2024, when prosecutors announced the charges tied to Yates’s alleged effort to eliminate witnesses in his cousin’s case.
What’s Next
Yates remains jailed as he awaits his Oct. 28 sentencing and faces statutory maximums of up to 15 years on the unlawful-transfer count and up to 10 years on each murder-for-hire count, according to ABC7 Chicago. Federal authorities say the outcome sends a clear message about how seriously they take any attempt to silence witnesses, especially in high-stakes murder cases.
