Man sentenced to 20 years in Chicago toddler's slaying that was streamed on Facebook Live
Published in News & Features
CHICAGO — A judge on Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years in prison in an attack that killed a 2-year-old boy and his uncle on Valentine’s Day in 2017 after he testified against an accomplice at a jury trial last month.
Devon Swan, 34, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to conspiracy to commit murder, but he has already served nearly all of his sentence, which was ordered to be at 50% with credit for time served while awaiting trial.
“At trial, you testified candidly,” Cook County Judge Thomas Byrne said. “You didn’t avoid any of the answers.”
More than eight years ago, Lavontay White Jr., 2, was strapped in a child safety seat when he was shot and killed along with his uncle, Lazarec Collins, 26, by a group that was aiming for Collins, according to prosecutors.
The attackers ambushed him while he was in a car in a West Side alley because the killers believed he was involved in the slaying of a brother of one of the suspects, according to court records. His 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend was injured.
Swan’s sentencing came after a jury earlier this month found his co-defendant, Doniel Harris, 27, guilty of murder and attempted murder. A third defendant, Jeremy Ellis, 27, in March pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Though the plea agreement with the state called for 20 years, Swan’s attorney, Dena Singer, asked the judge to mete out a punishment of 18 years, arguing that her client “has gone above and beyond what the state’s attorney asked.”
Singer said that Swan met with prosecutors multiple times and even let the state know about a conversation that happened within the Cook County Jail that helped their case.
Singer also told the judge that Swan earned additional credits for pursuing work and educational opportunities.
Byrne, though, declined to shave off additional years and ordered the sentence laid out in the plea agreement.
“Frankly, that’s what you are expected to do as part of the agreement,” Byrne said.
The shooting was captured on Facebook Live as Collins’ girlfriend streamed video of the three riding in a car shortly before 1:30 p.m. near the woman’s home at Ogden and Kostner avenues in the Lawndale neighborhood.
Harris drove up to the victims’ car, and he and one of the people in the back seat opened fire, prosecutors said. The pregnant woman, who was driving, exited her vehicle and ran to a residence.
The gunmen continued to shoot multiple times at Collins and his nephew, prosecutors said. Collins suffered wounds to the abdomen, back and legs. Lavontay was shot in the back of the head, and the bullet traveled through his cheek, prosecutors said.
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