Woman's Homicide In St. Pat's Area: Mental Fitness Hearing Set

JOLIET, IL — After living inside the Will County Jail for nearly two years, Ben Rockett has been ordered to undergo a mental health fitness evaluation. On March 31, 2021, the 69-year-old man told Joliet police detectives he fatally shot his live-in girlfriend in the couple's bed, but not on purpose, according to police reports.

The Will County State's Attorney Office did not file any murder charges against Rockett even though 56-year-old Sonja Underwood's death was ruled a homicide. Instead, prosecutors charged Rockett with being an armed habitual criminal. The sentencing range for that crime is six to 30 years of prison time.

On the morning of March 31, 2021, Joliet police arrived at Underwood's two-story apartment house in the St. Pat's Area.

According to Joliet police interview reports of the slaying:

Around 9 or 10 p.m. on March 30, Rockett and Underwood were at their house in the 200 block of Illinois Street. Two friends of Underwood, a man and a woman, showed up with alcohol and stayed until 11 p.m. or midnight. When the couple left, Rockett and Underwood went to their bedroom.

"He states that at one point they were in the bedroom watching movies in the bed," the Joliet detective wrote. Then, an argument erupted "because Sonja was accusing Ben of staring at Sonja's female friend ... while she was at the residence.

"Ben states that he denied this to Sonja and Sonja was making accusations that Ben may have liked her friend ... He states that the argument then became physical, with Sonja grabbing Ben's cane and started to strike him about the body."

Rockett had used the walking cane for about three weeks after suffering a stroke in early March.
Rockett told detectives the next thing he did in the bedroom was retrieve a black .38 revolver handgun from their bed, according to police.

"Rockett was holding the gun in his right hand and both he and Sonja were standing up close to the bed. Sonja was swinging the cane, and Rockett told her if you don't stop, I'm going to shoot you because I'm not going to go back laying up in a hospital for a long time," now-retired Joliet Police Detective Shawn Filipiak wrote. "If you keep it up, you're going to be in a lot of problems. Then the gun went off ... After the gun went off and Sonja yelled and Rockett yelled, he sat there and said 'I don't believe this happened.'"

This month, Will County Judge Carmen Goodman ordered Rockett to undergo a mental fitness exam, indicating "a bona fide doubt exists as to the defendant's fitness to stand trial."

Goodman appointed the Will County Court Services to determine Rockett's fitness to stand trial. The judge plans to hear the results of the exam on March 21 in Courtroom 503. Rockett turns 71 years old in April.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Joliet Woman's Deadly Shooting: No Murder Charges From Glasgow

Convicted Joliet Killer Questioned In Last Week's Homicide