Belleville man shot another in the back, stole his marijuana, prosecutor says
Surveillance video shows that a Belleville man fatally shot another man in the back while robbing him of marijuana on a Cahokia Heights liquor store parking lot, a St. Clair County prosecutor said Monday in a detention hearing.
Shamon Jackson, 20, of North Ninth Street in Belleville, faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of 23-year-old Tommie Stevenson of Belleville on July 4, 2022.
Jackson also was charged with armed robbery/armed with a firearm. The charges were filed on Oct. 23, more than two years after the homicide.
St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Emmanuel said the shooting was captured on two different angles on surveillance video.
Jackson’s attorney, Richard Roustio, however, said 14 shell cases were found at the scene and “we don’t really know who shot Mr. Stevenson.”
“He was shot and reacted after he was shot,” said Roustio, a Belleville attorney who was appointed by the St. Clair County Public Defender’s Office to represent Jackson.
St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara L. Rice heard the arguments at the hearing and ordered that Jackson be held in the county jail until his trial. Since Illinois ended its cash bail system last year, judges have been tasked with conducting detention hearings to determine if someone charged with a serious crime should be released or detained.
The shooting occurred in the parking lot outside Pop’s Liquor Store at 4607 Bond Ave. in Cahokia Heights.
Police had received a report at 3:10 p.m. on July 4th, 2022, of a man down from gunshots. Stevenson was found on the ground in the parking lot of Pop’s Liquor Store. He was taken to Touchette Regional Hospital, where he died, according to BND reporting on the day of the alleged crime.
Dwight L. Smith, 28, of Belleville, also was charged in connection with Stevenson’s death. The first-degree murder charge against him was dismissed as part of a plea bargain in August and given a 28-year sentence after pleading guilty to armed robbery, according to court records.
Smith has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against Jackson, Emmanuel told Rice.
In making her ruling against Jackson, Rice noted there are multiple witnesses in the case, there is purported video surveillance of the shooting and that Smith has a cooperation agreement with prosecutors.
Smith has a projected parole date of March 13, 2037, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. If he makes parole on this date, he would have served about 12 and half years of his 28-year sentence. He is being held in the Western Illinois Correctional Center near Mount Sterling.
