Granite City man convicted in Hammond man's 2021 murder
Jul. 17—MONTICELLO — A Granite City man who was present when his half-brother shot and killed a Hammond man during a burglary has been found guilty of first-degree murder.
Blayton Cota, 21, faces 20 to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 29 by Judge Dana Rhoades.
A Piatt County jury took 90 minutes Monday to conclude that Cota was accountable for the actions of Jerome Schmidt, 19, of Springfield when Schmidt repeatedly shot Michael Brown, 64, in his own garage in the early-morning hours of Jan. 26, 2021.
State's Attorney Sarah Perry and Assistant State's Attorney Victoria Dedman built their case largely on the testimony of a younger friend of Schmidt's who was only 15 at the time of the shooting.
Now 18, that person admitted he was taking part in the burglary and was present when Mr. Brown was killed.
Judge Dana Rhoades ordered that his name not be published because he was a juvenile when the crime happened.
He pleaded guilty to residential burglary under a juvenile-adult hybrid portion of the law for a sentence of probation and an agreement to testify against Schmidt and Cota. If he does not comply with the terms of that probation until he's 21, he faces a 10-year prison sentence.
Schmidt is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence for Mr. Brown's murder, to be served at 100 percent.
In closing arguments to the 10 women and two men hearing the evidence, Dedman reminded them to look at the chain of events: that the trio had met up in Springfield and started on a multi-community burglary spree.
That included stealing a gun from an unlocked truck in Cantrall north of Springfield the night before they made their way to Hammond in a truck that they stole from another community along the way late on Jan. 25. The stolen gun, which was later confirmed to be the murder weapon, was with them.
As they were checking out the inside of the Browns' detached garage about 3 a.m. on Jan. 26, they were confronted by Mr. Brown. He had been awakened by his wife, who was reading on her electronic tablet when their home security system alerted her to intruders around their garage.
Linda Brown testified her husband took his Glock with him to the garage. Not long after, she heard a series of shots, went to the garage and found her husband with multiple gunshot wounds and held him until he died before help could arrive.
The teen who testified against his co-defendants told the jury that Mr. Brown had Schmidt and Cota on their knees with their hands in the air at gunpoint. The teen was hiding under one of the three vehicles in the garage at the time and came out at Schmidt's direction, he said.
As Mr. Brown then briefly aimed the gun at him, Cota ran for the door and shots rang out. At least one shot came from Mr. Brown's gun and 12 from the stolen gun that Schmidt fired. Six bullet fragments were found in Mr. Brown.
The trio fled back to Springfield, where it was several months before authorities focused on Schmidt and the younger teen, then eventually Cota. Police used cellphone tower information that showed their phones in Hammond on the day of the killing.
Cota's court-appointed attorney, Diane Couri of Decatur, argued that the burglary was over when Mr. Brown had Schmidt and Cota on their knees at gunpoint and therefore, Cota wasn't accountable for anything that happened after that.
She also urged jurors to be skeptical of the then-juvenile's testimony, referring to the "sweetheart deal" he made with the state that allowed him to remain free.
In rebuttal, Perry scoffed at the suggestion that the burglary was complete when Mr. Brown confronted the intruders.
She also argued that there were four people in the garage and only two gave statements.
She was referring to the teen and Cota, who also talked to Illinois State Police investigators. Schmidt did not.
Cota admitted having joined with the others on a burglary spree, admitted he knew that they had the stolen gun, and that Schmidt fired it inside the Browns' garage.
As is his right, Cota did not testify in his trial.
