Final defendant sentenced in suburban Chicago courthouse beating gets 3 years
Martell Jones said he was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong group of people.
But a suburban Chicago judge on Monday said the evidence showed Jones, now 27, was involved in beating a man outside the Will County Courthouse nearly a year ago. He sentenced Jones to three years in prison, the Herald-News reports.
Judge Dave Carlson agreed that Jones had tried to defuse a confrontation inside the courthouse before three men attacked Michael Travis outside on the steps of the Joliet courthouse in January. However, because of his prior record, probation for Jones was not appropriate in the Will County Circuit Court case, the judge said.
Jones was convicted of aggravated battery and mob action after a bench trial in October, the article notes.
Two other men, who, like Martell Jones, were on parole at the time of the attack on Travis, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in November concerning the beating.
Makhi Jones, 21, and Christian Blackwell, 24, were sentenced to five years and four years, respectively.
The beating of Travis followed a well-attended pretrial hearing for Christopher Stamps, now 17, who is facing a murder case. All three defendants in the beating case attended the pretrial hearing, the Herald-News reports.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “3 charged, held on $1M bond, in attack on murder-hearing attendee as he exited courthouse”
