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An Aurora man whose murder conviction was reversed by the appellate court copped a plea to a robbery charge Thursday.
Courtney Mayes, 25, was doing a 20-year bit in Hill Correctional Center when the appellate court ruled the Naperville police messed up his arrest.
Mayes, his cousin Cherrod Moore, 32, of Aurora and three other men—Reginald Chandler-Martin, 26, of Aurora, Justin Harper, 25, of Aurora, and Tyrell Jackson, 25, of Villa Park—all were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the April 2008 killing of John Rosales.
Moore and Mayes were playing video games with Rosales in the Naperville man's home when Chandler-Martin and Jackson, both armed and wearing masks, burst in, according to prosecutors. Chandler-Martin ordered everyone in the residence to hit the deck and Jackson shot Rosales in the neck.
Harper supplied the guns used in the robbery, according to a statement released by Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow's office.
The five men were plotting to rip off Rosales for his money and cocaine, prosecutors said, and Moore and Mayes were acting as decoys in the heist.
Like his cousin, Moore took a 20 year hit after he was found guilty at a bench trial. Chandler-Martin was sentenced to 39 years in prison, Jackson got 70 years and Harper got five after pleading to aggravated robbery and "cooperating with prosecutors," according to a statement released by Glasgow's office.
But appellate judges ruled that both Mayes and Moore had been "unlawfully detained for more than 14 hours at the Naperville police station before they were officially arrested," according to a story in the Chicago Tribune, and sent the cases back to court.
Moore was also in the Will County Courthouse Thursday. He will return for a possible plea and sentencing on Nov. 28.
Mayes' plea to aggravated robbery made him eligible for day-for-day credt. He also receives credit for the time he served both in prison and the Will County jail following his arrest. He could be free in less than three years.
