Even after winning appeal, Cahokia man still gets 26 years for kidnapping, drug trafficking
A convicted Cahokia man successfully appealed a portion of his sentence on kidnapping and firearms crimes, but he’ll still serve more than 26 years in the federal prison system.
Antwon D. Jenkins, 32, was convicted of kidnapping and torturing an 18-year-old man in 2012. Part of his sentence included a 120 month term for an additional charge of using a gun during the crime. He successfully appealed the gun conviction in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the case back to the federal court in East St. Louis for resentencing on the kidnapping alone.
Judge Staci M. Yandle, citing the “unthinkable” degree of “torture” Jenkins exhibited against his victim, handed him a new 293-month sentence to run consecutively with a separate 27-month term for a drug trafficking conviction.
All said, Jenkins will have served a year longer than he would have prior to his appeal by the time he is released. Federal prison offers no parole.
Yandle said during the hearing that Jenkins’ crimes “reflect a level of total disregard for life” that “remains troubling.”
According to records from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Illinois, on July 17, 2012, Jenkins, then 24, lured an 18-year-old man to his house in East St. Louis, where he and others attacked the man and accused him of burglarizing Jenkins’ second home in Cahokia.
During the assault, Jenkins poured gasoline on the victim’s genitals and watched as others flicked lit cigarette butts at him.
Jenkins also put a makeshift firecracker in the victim’s mouth and threatened to light it before putting the man into his truck and driving him across the Poplar Street Bridge into St. Louis, the records state. During the drive, Jenkins twice pulled off Interstate 44, pointed a gun at the man and threatened to shoot him, the release stated. the man managed to escape into adjoining woods and Jenkins was arrested a few days later.
In March 2014, a jury convicted Jenkins on both charges and U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon sentenced him to a total of 308 months in federal prison.
Jenkins appealed the gun conviction based on Supreme Court precedent Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the conviction and remanded the case for resentencing on just the kidnapping charge. The appeals court ruled the Jenkins was convicted, in part, on statements he made to investigators, which broke an agreement prosecutors had made with him.
According to a release from U.S. Attorney Steve Weinhoeft’s office, while Jenkins’ appeal was pending, Herndon retired and the case was reassigned to Yandle.
As part of his sentence, Jenkins also was ordered to serve five years of supervised release and to pay $38,053.30 in restitution, the release stated.
Nathan Stump, a spokesman for Weinhoeft’s office, said Jenkins will likely be given credit for the time he has already served in the Bureau of Prisons for the kidnapping charge.
Two other East St. Louis men who participated in the 2012 kidnapping were prosecuted federally as well.
Jenkins’ younger brother, Jevon, then 21, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 125 months in prison. Quavondris Lee Graves, then 20, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 72 months. Five others involved in the crime were prosecuted and convicted in St. Clair County.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 3:58 PM.
.jpg)