A forty-two-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to 32 years in prison for the October, 2017 shooting death of a Danville man. Circuit Judge Nancy Fahey sentenced Maurice Brooks this (Monday) afternoon (September 9, 2019) after Brooks pleaded guilty to First Degree Murder in the death of Gerald Taylor.
Vermilion County State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy says Brooks will be required to serve 100-percent of the sentence. Brooks will also be required to serve three years of mandatory supervised release when his sentence is completed.
At the sentencing hearing the State’s Attorney’s Office said that if the case would have gone to trial, evidence would have shown that the victim, Gerald Taylor, and the defendant got into an argument on a Fair Oaks parking lot where Taylor’s vehicle was parked. State’s Attorney Lacy says the evidence would further establish that the defendant was demanding that Taylor move his vehicle. As Taylor was attempting to move the vehicle, Lacy said Brooks caused severe bodily injury which resulted in Taylor’s death.
Additionally, the prosecution would have called a forensic pathologist who would have testified that the injuries suffered by Taylor were the cause of his death.