GUILTY: Jury Verdict In Joliet Murder Of Mom Shot 7 Times

JOLIET, IL — A Will County jury needed less than 30 minutes to reach a unanimous guilty verdict in the Joliet first-degree murder and child endangerment trial for Jermaine Mandley, a Bolingbrook barber accused of unloading his pistol into the body of his girlfriend Maya Smith, while her 2-year-old child was strapped in a car seat on Jan. 7.

Mandley was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of child endangerment. Judge Dave Carlson set the sentencing for Nov. 7. The sentencing range is 45 years to life in prison.

Six months before Smith was killed, Channahon police investigated prior allegations that Mandley had battered the young mother.

On Joliet's west side near Oakland Avenue, Smith's lifeless body was discovered inside of her silver SUV shortly after midnight on Jan. 8. Joliet police immediately identified Mandley as their prime suspect, and he was captured trying to flee to Indiana, near the Horseshoe Casino, a few days later.

Mandley and Smith had had a dating relationship, and Mandley's marriage with his wife Chelsea Mandley was on the rocks at the time of the 24-year-old mother's slaying inside her vehicle.

Mandley's public defenders argued that Mandley was not the killer, and that perhaps Smith was killed by someone in the neighborhood trying to steal her purse, since her purse was found underneath her slain body.

Thursday's closing arguments:

The Will County State's Attorney's case was handled by lawyers Amanda Tasker, Tricia McKenna and Tom Slazyk.

Tasker told the jury on Thursday that Mandley fatally shot his girlfriend seven times because she had just taken a phone call connected to her SUV's Bluetooth system from Remington "Remy" York, the father of her child, and she intended to get back together with him.

"Seven times in her vehicle," Tasker emphasized. "Maya told the defendant she was in love with the dad of her child and did not want to be in a relationship with" Jermaine Mandley.

Mandley was jealous and controlling, and he wanted to continue with his two romantic relationships with two much-younger, beautiful women — his wife, Chelsea, and Maya, who were both in their 20s while he was 47, Tasker pointed out to the jury.

"Jermaine Mandley cannot take no for an answer," Tasker declared.

In one of his texts, he reminded Maya Smith how "I'm your sugar daddy," the prosecutor pointed out. "They shot her seven times to make sure she was dead. This person wanted her dead. They left a helpless child to fend for herself for six hours. (Maya) was kicking him, fighting for her life and possibly for her daughter ... her shoes were off.

"They wanted to make sure she was gone, and that person was Jermaine Mandley," Tasker reminded the jury. "She did not want to be with the defendant, so he leans into her car and shoots her seven times. We can see the defendant running in the video. He runs directly to 605 Ingalls Avenue (where his friend's party was taking place)."

Tasker said Ring doorbell camera video footage from Ingalls Avenue shows Mandley saying, "I killed that bitch."

"'That bitch' that he's referring to has a name, Maya Smith, and he's refusing to use her name because he knows what he just did. "

Public defender Phil Villasenor tried to persuade the jury that the Joliet police immediately targeted Mandley even though he was not the real killer.

The public defender suggested that Smith was killed perhaps during a robbery, after all, her purse was found underneath her body. "They want you to assume that Maya wanted nothing to do with him," Villasenor argued. "She was the one who texted him first. They clearly had a relationship. He was married. There was someone else in the picture for her. Certainly not a normal relationship."

As for the fact that Joliet police recovered Mandley's DNA from the inside door handle of her SUV, Villasenor had an explanation for that.

"Of course, he's in the car all the time," the public defender told jurors. "The police targeted Jermaine Mandley. Immediately, they're looking at Mr. Mandley, why? At that point, they put their blinders on and didn't consider anybody else."

Villasenor also insisted the fact that his client wanted his wife Chelsea to meet him in Indiana at the Horseshoe Casino, following the murder, had nothing to do with any intention of fleeing. The word fleeing was not used during Mandley's Snapchat phone call to her, the public defender said.

"There are questions here that we need answers to get a full story," Villasenor said.

As for the texts exchanged between Smith and Mandley, "there is nothing violent, explosive. It's two people talking back and forth. At the end of the day, he was trying to make it more than it was..."

During her final arguments, prosecutor McKenna told the jury, "the defendant argues someone else did this. You literally have to suspend your belief in reality to believe this ... He is the person who did the shooting ... the police work that was done on this case was exceptional. It was great police work, Ring cameras, neighbors' cameras, (Southside) Civic Club, defendant's wife, they dumped the phones. This was a heartwarming example of the community coming together to tell the information that they had."

McKenna left the jury with this: "He's overwhelmingly guilty of this offense ... He takes out his gun and fires over and over and over ... We have proven he's guilty of every single count."