Crime

St. Clair County jury returns verdict in double murder trial

The front entrance to the St. Clair County courthouse in Belleville, Ill. on May 2, 2024.
The front entrance to the St. Clair County courthouse in Belleville, Ill. on May 2, 2024. Belleville News-Democrat

A St. Clair County jury Thursday convicted an East St. Louis man of fatally shooting two men in Cahokia Heights in 2022.

Kevin B. Lipsey, 34, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Sean A. Johnson, 24, of Swansea and Dantez T. Ford, 21, of Cahokia Heights.

Johnson and Ford were pronounced deceased at the shooting scene on Brady Avenue in Cahokia Heights in June 2022.

Lipsey, who has been held in the St. Clair County Jail for nearly two years, faces a mandatory life sentence because two individuals lost their lives in a single event.

A sentencing will be conducted on a day to be determined.

The Major Case Squad of St. Louis investigated this double homicide.

Ford was found in a vehicle parked in the driveway of a home in the 4100 block of Brady Avenue and Johnson was found inside the home, police said in June 2022.

At the time of his arrest, Lipsey’s bond was set at $2 million. The case was remanded to the grand jury on July 7, 2022.

His trial began Monday in the St. Clair County courthouse in Belleville. Jurors deliberated for over two hours Thursday before returning the guilty verdict.

This story was originally published May 2, 2024 at 3:29 PM.

Carolyn Smith
Belleville News-Democrat
Carolyn P. Smith has worked for the Belleville News-Democrat since 2000 and currently covers breaking news in the metro-east. She graduated from the Journalism School at the University of Missouri at Columbia and says news is in her DNA. Support my work with a digital subscription
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