RI Defendant in Shooting Crime Over a Cigarette Sentenced to 10 Years

A 25 year old RI man, Marques Wilson, was sentenced this week by Judge Charles H. Pelton for shooting a RI man in the chest over a cigarette. 

The victim is a 41 year old man who was sitting in his vehicle having a cigarette in the parking lot of the Genesis Medical Center in Davenport while waiting for his son, who was being treated in the hospital for an injury.

Wilson walked up to the victim and asked him for a cigarette. When the victim replied that he did not have another to share, Wilson tried to forcibly remove him from the vehicle, ultimately pulling out a gun and shooting him in the chest before fleeing the scene in a group of three vehicles that were later apprehended in Moline after a police chase.

The victims injuries, a gunshot wound to the mid-torso, were serious enough that he spent 6 days in the hospital and has not yet returned to work.

Wilson maintained that it was not proven that he was the actual shooter in the crime although the evidence proved differently, however the victim himself could not identify Wilson as the person who attacked him. The accused's mother also spoke out after the hearing stating that there was another person involved and that her son was innocent of the charges against him.

The second suspect, Johnny D. Angel IV, also of Rock Island, is scheduled for trial on the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm on August 30, 2010 in the Rock Island County Circuit Court.

In the course of his trial, Wilson insisted that his other convictions for violent behavior not be taken into account for the charge involved in the shooting. Two weeks after the hospital shooting however, he stomped, kicked and punched a Liberian refugee, and along with another juvenile, stole a bike from the man. He was sentenced 24 months conditional discharge for pleading guilty to theft regarding the incident.

Judge Pelton and the jury had the option to sentence Wilson to up to 20 years in prison for the shooting crime. The fact that he only received 10 years was a testament to the fact that the Judge and jury in the matter felt he was young enough to change.


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