Family of man murdered in his Venice home in 2014 still waiting for justice, closure
It’s been more than seven years since two masked gunmen broke into a Venice home between Christmas and New Year’s and robbed, shot and killed its 41-year-old owner.
The family of the late Calvin L. Tally has been waiting for closure and justice ever since that violent night in 2014.
“I’m disgusted by how long it’s taken, and it’s still not over,” said his sister, Tracie Bryant, 52, of St. Louis County, maintaining that the process may have moved faster if the victim hadn’t been a Black resident of a poor community.
Lamarcus D. Jackson, 35, the man accused of pulling the trigger, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder in October, 2018, in Madison County Circuit Court. Under his plea agreement, five other charges — including two murder counts and one count each of armed robbery, home invasion and possession/use of a firearm by a felon — were dismissed.
Judge Kyle Napp sentenced Jackson to 35 years in prison.
A second suspect, Byron J. Holton, 33, was scheduled to go to trial next week. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 1 to home invasion. Under his plea agreement, five other charges — including three murder counts and one count each of armed robbery and possession/use of a firearm by a felon — were dismissed.
Prosecutors will recommend a 27.5-year sentence to Judge Napp on a sentencing date to be determined, according to Philip Lasseigne, spokesman for State’s Attorney Tom Haine’s office. Bryant plans to make a victim’s impact statement.
“It’s torn our family apart,” she said this week.
A third suspect, Undray C. Webb, 32, was charged only with home invasion due to authorities determining that he wasn’t with the others when Tally was shot. He’s still awaiting trial. His next hearing is set for March 7.
Bryant noted that it took less than two years for Timothy Banowetz’s trial to begin in the Jan. 4, 2020, murder of prominent white Edwardsville attorney Randy Gori, even with the COVID shutdown. Banowetz pleaded guilty on the first day.
Bryant said county prosecutors have blamed delays in the Tally case primarily on the fact that the defendants were being tried in federal court for armed robberies of three Cahokia grocery stores and, after their convictions in 2016, they were sent to federal prison, making it more complicated and expensive to arrange for appearances at Madison County hearings.
The bigger problem, according to Bryant, is that the cases have been handled by at least three different assistant state’s attorneys and two judges, requiring each to essentially “start from scratch.”
“It’s changed hands so many times, there’s been no continuity to the case,” Bryant said.
Democrat Tom Gibbons was the Madison County state’s attorney who filed charges against Jackson, Holton and Webb in August, 2015. He assigned the cases to assistant Jennifer Mudge, who later became a statewide special prosecutor. Republican Haine took over the office in November, 2020.
Lasseigne said it’s true that federal cases generally take precedence over local cases, that COVID has presented challenges in the past two years and that the Tally case has involved more than one prosecutor.
“State’s Attorney Haine remains focused on bringing criminal cases to conclusion that were inherited from his predecessors in the state’s attorney’s office,” he said.
Calvin Tally grew up in East St. Louis, the youngest of five siblings. He had been disabled since being robbed and shot in the leg as a younger man, according to his sister. He had five daughters and twin sons, who are now grown, and three grandchildren.
“My brother was the apple of my mother’s eye,” Bryant said. “She didn’t last six months after (his murder).”
Doris Tally, 71, of Belleville, died of an aneurysm on July 5, 2015.
Bryant partially linked Calvin and Doris Tally’s deaths to the depression and apparent suicide of her sister, Melanie Tally, whose body was found in her car at the bottom of a lake at Frank Holton State Recreation Area in 2017. She was 49.
Bryant described Calvin Tally as a sharp dresser who liked to wear hats, a well-liked member of his community and a father close to his seven children.
“He had what they used to call ‘the gift of gab,’” his sister said.
Venice police responded to a 911 call from Tally’s home in the 1200 block of Oriole Street about 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 29, 2014, and found him dead of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Two witnesses, including a 21-year-old female relative and 23-year-old male acquaintance, reportedly told police that two masked men kicked in the door to the home, forced Tally upstairs at gunpoint, shot him, stole cash and marijuana and fled the scene.
The crime remained unsolved until seven months later, when charges were filed in Madison County against Jackson, Holton and Webb, who were all in their 20s.
“The two witnesses were not harmed,” according to a statement from Gibbons’ office on Aug. 5, 2015. “It is unknown whether or not the victim, or the witnesses, knew the gunmen.”
Jackson, Holton and Webb also were part of a group of five men facing federal charges in connection with three armed robberies at Cahokia grocery stores, one on Nov. 21, 2014, at Qmart, one on Dec. 11, 2014, at Alps Supermarket and one on Jan. 11, 2015, at Shop ‘n Save.
Jackson pleaded guilty to five charges related to the Alps and Shop ‘n Save robberies in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He’s serving a 44.5-year federal sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute in Indiana, concurrent with the 35-year sentence handed down in Madison County.
“It’s almost like he really didn’t get anything for the murder,” Bryant said.
A federal jury convicted Holton of three charges — including conspiracy related to all three robberies and armed robbery and weapons charges related to the Shop ‘n Save robbery — and acquitted him of four charges related to the other two robberies. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Webb is serving a 21-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution Greenville. Like Jackson, he pleaded guilty in federal court to five charges related to the armed robberies at Alps and Shop ‘n Save.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
