Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser says it took a jury only an hour Thursday for them to convict a man of murder charges from a death more than four years ago.
The jury also convicted Jahsen Thomas, 47, of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm, after shooting Courtney Smith, 37, multiple times at a Lincoln Avenue home.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Courtney Smith,” said Milhiser, “who had to sit through this trial and listen to the brutal actions of this defendant, when he repeatedly shot her, and then the final shot to her head, killing her, back in April of 2021.”
Milhiser says Springfield Police were just as responsible for the conviction.
“Thanks to the Springfield Police Department for their professional response — not only testifying at this trial, but back in 2021 when they responded to the scene, and they found the defendant in the front yard, Courtney Smith, laying there with gunshot wounds.”
Police reportedly spent about 20 minutes negotiating with Thomas for his surrender, before firing bean bag rounds at him to get him to give up.
Sentencing is November 18th. Court records say Thomas was arrested again back at the beginning of this month on a charge of Escape. No word on when that case might be resolved.
