Richard Conner (Credit: Stateville Correctional Center)
JOLIET (CBS) – A Chicago man earned his second life prison sentence Wednesday, pleading guilty to the first-degree murder of his prison cell mate.
Richard Conner, 40, admitted he strangled 37-year-old Jameson Leezer to death while the men shared a cell at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.
Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt said he had no choice in sentencing Conner, who is already serving life for a 1991 murder in Cook County.
Leezer was found dead in his cell in April 2009, prosecutors said, after Conner told them he’d killed his “celly.”
Officials have said they believe Leezer, who was white, and Conner, who is black, got into a fight about race.
Though Conner was serving a life sentence for murder, officials said Leezer was a “short-timer” serving a five-year sentence for possession of a stolen motor vehicle in Iroquois County.
He’d lived part of his life in Bolingbrook and Joliet, and he was set to be released 16 days after his death.
“They were a very poor choice of roommates to be housed together,” a source said.
Prosecutors wanted to seek the death penalty for Conner until Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation last year to abolish it.
Records show Conner now is being held at the Tamms Correctional Center, the state’s “supermax” prison.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
13 Comments
Gotta love government possession of a stolen motor vehicle becomes a death sentence. Only in Amerika.
They want you to believe they can protect you but in reality they can not even protect a guy they have access to 24/7, so how in the hell do they think they are going to protect you and i?
January 18, 2012 at 5:47 pm
The abolishing of the death penalty is a joke. Mexico doesn’t have the death penalty either, but if a prosecutor or warden don’t like you, even though your crime may have been small potatoes, they can sentence you to death by coupling you with a rabid killing machine.
January 18, 2012 at 5:59 pm
IN SIMILAR FASHION TO WISCONSIN RECALL OF THEIR GOVERNOR IT SEEMS ILLINOIS SHOULD BE ABLE TO OVERTURN QUINN HEADLINE GRABBING ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY WITH TODAY’S USE OF DNA THE MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MINIMIZED. FIRE UP THE PETITIONS AND THE CHAIR— HE HAS TO GO!
January 18, 2012 at 7:15 pm
2nd Life Sentence, so this means he’ll be out in 10 years instead of 5. This POS needs to die. Of course, he just scored points in jail by getting away with killing whitey.
January 18, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Thats the plan JA. If you let the violent people out, the sheeple cry to be protected, the coppers get more money for law enforcement and they are as happy as the pigs in mud that they are.
Keep the non-violent drug offenders locked up as they produce good income in prison industries at 25 cents an hour.
Welcome to the USA! Isn’t it grand?
January 18, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Non violent drug offenders? This guy was a thief, I guess it’s okay to steal from you. He didn’t deserve to die but he commited a crime and should face the music. I’m sure it wasn’t his first tiime being arrested. The only drug offenders that go to jail are the ones on parole and probation, and are violated for possession/violating the terms and conditions of proation and parole. Get real.
January 23, 2012 at 10:40 am
Gee a 2nd life sentence–that will teach him!!! Anyone that accepts this as a working justice system needs a lot of help! At least put this loser in the cell next to Blago next time, and throw in a switch blade.
January 19, 2012 at 12:16 am
rest in peace. and love to the family..
January 20, 2012 at 12:59 am
TELL ME. WHY YALL. PUT A ONE TIME KILLER. WITH A STOLEN MOTOR VEHICLE. PERSON……IN THE SAME CELL
January 20, 2012 at 1:06 am
I totaly agree with you, who made this housing mistake? No sense.
January 23, 2012 at 10:41 am
Tyrone , their criminals , that’s why. It’s jail. If you don’t pay a stupid 40 dollar ticket they will lock your ass up with murderers rapist and thief’s. The system doesn’t care. If you commit a crime you may end up in this nice fellows cell. So let this be a lesson to you small timers. IT’S JAIL NOT THE HILTON. What i wanna know is what was black doing with white? They usually keep them separated.
January 22, 2012 at 11:19 am
Guess he went for the long-term stay.
January 23, 2012 at 5:09 pm
This guy should be killed. He clearly committed the murder and with no risk of additional punishment it should of been obvious a thing like this could happen.
January 25, 2012 at 2:07 am