Teen faces 24-year sentence after emotional hearing related to East St. Louis shooting
Lontae Jefferson was 16 when he and three teenage friends were indicted by a grand jury and charged as adults with first-degree murder in the 2019 shooting death of an East St. Louis man.
On Wednesday, St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Robert Haida sentenced Jefferson to 24 years in prison, requiring that he serve 85% of that time, with credit for the past 20 months in custody.
Jefferson had pleaded guilty on June 2 to a lesser charge of aggravated battery by discharge of a firearm, a Class X felony. Haida dismissed the first-degree murder charge and another aggravated-battery charge from a unrelated 2019 incident as part of a plea agreement.
“He’s not a bad kid,” said Jefferson’s mother, Renee White, of St. Louis, after the hearing at the courthouse in Belleville. “He just got a ride with the wrong person, and it put him in a messed-up situation.”
Prosecutors allege that Rico Stringer, 27, of East St. Louis, was walking in the 400 block of North 25th Street on the night of Oct. 29, 2019, when three of the four teenagers, including Jefferson, began shooting from a car. Stringer was hit in the abdomen.
One of the teenagers, Arenzo Hoffman, now 20, of East St. Louis, pleaded guilty on June 2 to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison with the requirement that he serve 100% of that time.
First-degree murder charges are pending against the other two teenagers, Demarius Pitts, now 17, of Belleville, and Allen Edwards, now 21, of Cahokia. Both have pleaded not guilty. Pitts, who is still considered a juvenile, is being tried as an adult.
Son of well-known boxer
Jefferson, now 18, entered the courtroom on Wednesday wearing an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs, leg irons and a COVID-19 mask. He nodded at his mother, grandmother and five younger siblings, who quietly wiped away tears. No one from Stringer’s family attended the sentencing hearing.
Jefferson declined to make a statement. After the hearing, the judge allowed his family to say goodbye. The seven circled him and held him in a group embrace for several minutes, crying and reassuring him.
“We told him, ‘Go in there and do positive things, go to church, get into a prayer book, and then when you have a parole hearing, the judge will see that you’re making progress in getting your life together,’” said Jefferson’s grandmother, Betty Tolson, of East St. Louis.
“We also told him, ‘We’re not going to abandon you. We’re not going to leave you. We’re going to come and see you. It’s just that you can’t come home right now. We have different addresses. We love you. We’ll always love you.’”
Jefferson’s mother said he lived with her in St. Louis, despite information released by authorities at the time of his arrest, but that he attended JTC Academy, a private school in East St. Louis.
Jefferson was the son of the late Lovely Lontae Jefferson, a former East St. Louis boxer. His death at Chester Mental Health Center in 2018 was widely reported because family members said they couldn’t locate his body for two days after he was found dead in his room at age 33.
After Lovely Jefferson’s death, his son started a business renting children’s bounce houses and explored the idea of boxing, according to his mother.
“We were already kind of preparing ourselves mentally (for the prison sentence),” White said. “It’s been going on for two years. It was better than the time they were offering at first. They were saying 45 years.”
Meeting at gas station
Lontae Jefferson is being represented by Belleville attorney Maurche Belk. His case was prosecuted by Crystal Uhe, former first assistant to Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons, who left office last year to run for judge.
Uhe, a Democrat, sought to replace Gibbons in the November election but was defeated by Republican Tom Haine, who fired her after taking office. Uhe joined the St. Clair County state’s attorney’s office earlier this year.
At Jefferson’s plea hearing on June 2, Uhe presented the following timeline for the night of Oct. 29, 2019, in East St. Louis:
- Jefferson, then 16, arrived at the Citgo gas station at 2501 Louisiana Boulevard with Edwards, then 19; Pitts, then 15; and Hoffman, then 18; in a red 2016 Toyota Corolla.
- Stringer entered the gas station, made a purchase and began walking down 25th Street.
- When Stringer exited the gas station, Hoffman told the other three to hurry and get into the car.
- Edwards was driving, Hoffman was in the front passenger seat, Pitts was in the back seat on the driver’s side and Jefferson was in the back seat on the passenger’s side.
- The car turned onto 25th Street, headed toward Stringer, and Hoffman gave Jefferson a loaded black semiautomatic handgun.
- Hoffman fired a silver handgun multiple times, Jefferson fired the gun that Hoffman had given him and Pitts fired his own gun.
- After firing, Hoffman said, “Oh, I think I hit him,” and Jefferson gave Hoffman his gun back.
Motion to suppress confession
East St. Louis police responded to the shooting scene about 1 a.m. Stringer later died in the hospital. It isn’t publicly known what transpired between Stringer and the teenagers at the gas station.
The Illinois State Police, which led the homicide investigation, can’t comment due to the ongoing court cases, according to spokesman Sgt. Christopher Watson.
Police arrested Jefferson, Edwards and Pitts three days after the shooting on Nov. 1, 2019. Those three and Hoffman were indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder on Nov. 22.
Earlier this month, Pitts’ attorney, Cathy MacElroy, filed a motion to suppress his confession on Oct. 30, 2019, maintaining that his interview was mishandled by East St. Louis and Illinois State Police investigators.
Specifically, the motion alleges that the investigators didn’t explain to the 15-year-old his constitutional rights, tell him he was being videotaped or allow him to speak to an attorney, as requested.
Jefferson’s other aggravated-battery charge, which Haida dismissed on Wednesday, was related to an incident on Sept. 19, 2019, according to court records. He was accused of shooting a female in the leg with a semiautomatic pistol.
Jefferson has been working toward his GED while incarcerated, his mother said. He was held at St. Clair County’s juvenile detention center until after his 18th birthday in March then transferred to the jail. His bond had been set at $1 million.
“He did not know that what he was a part of (the night of Stringer’s shooting) would lead to such a lifelong consequence, so he is wrestling with that,” attorney Belk said.
“He has had to go from boyhood to manhood quicker than most people. But otherwise, he has high hopes. He looks forward to serving his time and getting out and being able to still have a life. It might not be the life he had envisioned, but he can have a good quality life after he’s released.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
