JOLIET, IL — The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office of Jim Glasgow obtained a 35-year prison term for Joliet baby killer Shanquilla Garvey, who murdered her own child, her 9-month-old little girl Cherish, inside the Bel-Air Motel on Plainfield Road right before Christmas way back in 2017.
Joliet Patch reviewed the court files and learned that Garvey came to court on Friday and made a voluntary guilty plea. “Court finds there is a factual basis for the plea,” the entry from Will County Judge Dan Rippy in Courtroom 402 noted.
Judge Rippy accepted Garvey’s plea of guilty to count 2, which was first-degree murder and Garvey was given 35 years of imprisonment. Patch was told that Garvey must serve the entire sentence at 100 percent, meaning she won’t receive any good time credit while at the Illinois Department of Corrections.
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In Monday’s Will County State’s Attorney’s Office press release that went out several hours after Joliet Patch broke the news, Glasgow made the following statements: “For a mother to beat her own baby to death is incomprehensible. Cherish was taken from this earth simply because Shanquilla Garvey wanted her to stop crying. This precious baby girl’s last experience was one of trauma and suffering, something no prison sentence can ever undo.”
In addition to serving the 35-year prison term at 100 percent, Garvey will receive 2,377 days credit.
Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In obtaining the guilty plea from the Joliet baby killer, Glasgow thanked Assistant State’s Attorneys Deborah Mills and Erin Krone, Victim Witness Advocate Mallory Magee, Legal Secretary Nancy Nelson, Joliet Police Department Detectives Dave Jackson and Aaron Bandy, and retired Joliet Police Department Detective Shawn Filipiak for their dedication and commitment in this matter.
Glasgow also commended Will County Children’s Advocacy Center Assistant Director Jaclyn Lundquist for the victim sensitive interview she performed.
In mid-December, Joliet Patch reported that it would mark six years that 30-year-old first-degree murder defendant Shanquilla Garvey has remained locked away at the Will County Jail, accused of throwing her 9-month-old daughter into a set of dresser drawers at the Bel-Air Motel on Joliet’s Plainfield Road where Garvey lived.
Over the past six years, Garvey has been represented by the Will County Public Defender’s Office, notably lawyer George Lenard and Kristen Wyss. However, last December, Lenard filed a motion with Judge Rippy indicating that their days of helping Garvey with her lawyer have come to an end.
After six years in the Will County Jail, awaiting her trial, Garvey came to the conclusion that she is better off serving as her own lawyer.
“The defendant is charged with first degree murder,” Lenard’s motion to withdraw states. “The defendant is requesting the court to allow her to represent herself … the defendant, Shanquilla Garvey, respectfully moves this honorable court to allow the Will County Public Defender to withdraw as counsel in the above cause and allow the defendant to proceed pro se.
Garvey’s murder case had been scheduled for a jury trial numerous times over the past two years, but on every occasion, the trial was delayed.
At the time of Friday’s guilty plea and sentencing, Garvey’s latest jury trial was set for March 25, 2024, in Courtroom 402 of Will County Judge Dan Rippy.
Will County’s criminal complaint states that Garvey threw Cherish “into a dresser and onto the ground and then shook” Cherish “thereby causing the death” of the little girl.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Joliet’s Accused Baby Killer From Bel-Air Motel Wants No Lawyers
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