Springfield man gets 40 years in prison for murder of Hammond man during a burglary
Aug. 31—MONTICELLO — A Granite City man who was present when his half-brother fatally shot a Hammond man in his own garage more than two years ago has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Blayton Cota, 21, will have to serve 100 percent of the sentence handed him Tuesday by Piatt County Judge Dana Rhoades. He was given credit for a year and 11 months he's already served.
A jury convicted Cota in July of the first-degree murder of Michael Brown, 64, who died after confronting three young men who broke into his garage about 3 a.m. Jan. 26, 2021.
In a bench trial in January, Rhoades convicted the shooter, Jerome Schmidt, 19, of Springfield, of first-degree murder and subsequently sentenced him to 50 years in prison.
An 18-year-old friend of Schmidt who was also present pleaded guilty to residential burglary for a sentence of probation in return for his testimony against the half brothers.
Should that man, whose name Rhoades ordered not be published because he was a minor at the time of the killing, violate the terms of his probation, he could be imprisoned for 10 years.
To aggravate Cota's sentence, State's Attorney Sarah Perry and Assistant State's Attorney Victoria Dedman had two Piatt County sheriff's deputies testify about his behavior while in custody waiting to be tried.
Deputy Brad Yohnka said that in April 2022, Cota punched the window on his cell door, breaking it. And Deputy Paolo Mendez said that in February, Cota resisted the efforts of officers trying to move him to an observation cell and threatened them. He ended up shoving an officer after unsuccessfully trying to head-butt him.
Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Zac Weishaar also testified about a series of burglaries to which Cota was tied in late 2019, including a break-in to a secretary of state officer's squad car from which his rifle was stolen.
Cota later posted a photo of himself on Facebook shooting what appeared to be that gun, an act resulting in federal criminal charges of possession of a stolen firearm that are unresolved.
Weishaar also testified about numerous burglaries in Morgan, Logan, Sangamon and Scott counties in late 2019 in which Cota was a suspect.
Homes, garages and cars were broken into and at least 10 guns, gaming systems, a camera and laptop computers were among the items stolen.
Weishaar said Cota was linked to several of those through footwear impressions from a pair of Vans sneakers and a silver Chevrolet Impala registered to Cota's girlfriend that fled from police on Dec. 28, 2019, the same night two guns were stolen from a garage in Latham. Cota later tried to sell the car on Facebook Marketplace, Weishaar testified.
In her victim impact statement, Linda Brown chastised Cota for invading her late husband's garage, his "happy place" that contained his cars, guns and other items that he had worked hard for more than 46 years to obtain, then robbed him of his ability to enjoy those things and robbed her of their future together.
"While you were stealing from others, did you ever give a thought to the amount of real work, scrimping and saving people did to get those very items you thought nothing of taking?" said Mrs. Brown, who held her husband as he took his last breath after having been shot multiple times.
Dedman sought the 40-year term that Rhoades ultimately imposed while his attorney, Diane Couri of Decatur asked for the minimum of 20 years.
