Ex-Lewis University Student Pleads Guilty In 2016 Killing

JOLIET, IL — Tariq Pinnick, a former Lewis University student who has spent nearly five years living in the Will County Jail facing first-degree murder charges, worked out a plea bargain on Thursday with prosecutors in the Jan. 13, 2016, shooting death of Dylan Somma, 22.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office agreed to dismiss the first-degree murder charges against Pinnick, who fatally shot Somma once in the chest in a yard on Barry Avenue in Lockport Township. Under Thursday's agreement, Pinnick pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, Joliet criminal defense attorney Jeff Tomczak told Joliet Patch's editor.

Next week in front of Will County Judge Sarah Jones, Pinnick will get sentenced to 17 years in prison, but the term of imprisonment will only be served at 50 percent, Tomczak said.

Pinnick will also get credit for time already served. He has remained in the Will County Jail since being extradited from Georgia on Jan. 17, 2017.

Four months ago, Pinnick and his family came up with enough money to hire the Tomczak Law Group as private counsel. For more than four years, Pinnick was being represented by the Will County Public Defender's Office while awaiting trial.

Tomczak estimated that his now 25-year-old client will need to serve another three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections before regaining his freedom.

"He's got five years in now," Tomczak pointed out.

By pleading guilty to second-degree murder, Pinnick admitted he shot and killed Somma, but Pinnick had an unreasonable belief he was shooting Somma in self-defense, Tomczak said.

For an entire year, Pinnick avoided the Will County Sheriff's detectives who were looking to arrest him in connection with Somma's homicide.

Police in Georgia eventually found Pinnick.

An ex-convict, Somma was only out of prison for two months when he was killed, Joliet Patch previously reported. After the homicide, the Will County Sheriff's Office announced that it "appears that Somma was in the area to purchase drugs when an altercation took place."

Tomczak told Joliet Patch on Thursday he was pleased with how the plea bargain worked out.

"I believe that second-degree murder much more accurately addresses what actually happened during this drug transfer gone awry," Tomczak said. "Even though I've only been on the case for about four months, I believed immediately that this was not a first-degree murder.

"I believe now this was a fair resolution based on the facts of the case and my client's lack of a criminal history."

Tomczak said his client was attending Lewis University at the time of the deadly shooting, and he said that Will County Sheriff's detectives performed a search warrant at Pinnick's dorm room in the aftermath of the killing.

In January 2016, the 20-year-old Pinnick was charged with four counts of first-degree murder, and the warrant for his arrest noted that the city of Lockport resident was a student at Lewis University in nearby Romeoville.