Suspect appears for first time in Keshanna Jackson murder case – The Daily Egyptian

Keavonte Nesby’s sentencing hearing on two counts of first-degree murder in the death of 18-year-old SIU student Keshanna Jackson will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, September 4, at the Jackson County Courthouse.

“We just started this process. So once they appear in court, we have 90 days to have a trial if the defendant invokes his or her right to a speedy trial,” said Jackson County State’s Attorney Joe Cervantez. “Now he is no longer in custody for this offense because he is currently in the Illinois Department of Corrections on a weapons charge.”

During the initial hearing, he will be read his rights and the charges and asked if he wants to hire a public defender. After the hearing, a preliminary hearing will be scheduled.

“The preliminary hearing has to be within 30 days if he’s being held on those charges, or 60 days if he’s not,” Cervantez said. “The preliminary hearing is just a probable cause hearing, so at that point the court will hold a hearing.”

Jackson died on August 22, 2021, when she was struck by gunfire at a party at 501 West Cherry Street. Police arrived on the scene and Jackson was immediately taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale with a life-threatening gunshot wound. Her life was lost after all efforts by the hospital were exhausted.

Carbondale Police held a press conference on August 14, 2024 with attorney Cervantez and Police Chief Stan Reno about the investigation that took place in Jackson’s case.

They spoke about hundreds of interviews with witnesses and suspects that led to the charges against Nesby and the upcoming hearing.

In addition to the charges related to Jackson’s murder, Nesby was also charged with two counts of home invasion (which were dismissed), two counts of assault and battery causing bodily harm (the charges of which were amended or reduced), and one count of residential burglary (which was also dismissed), according to the court records website Judici.

Nesby is currently serving a 10-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Correction for one count of aggravated assault with a firearm and was taken into custody on February 16, 2022.

“So September 4th is a date where you’re going to see a number of other dates, and we’re going to see the path of the trial or the progression of the trial. Each one of them is just a little bit different than the other,” Cervantez said.

When it comes to the rival groups associated with Jackson’s murder, Cervantez said they’re not typical gangs. They’re groups that are associated with each other, with other groups that don’t like each other very much.

“We typically have information sheets with people’s names on them, and we know who belongs to which people in those groups,” Cervantez said. “And we make sure we do that for a reason.”

According to Cervantez, it is important that these individuals are identified so that they do not continue with criminal activity, not only with this incident, but with all the other incidents they are investigating.

“I tried three defendants at the same time about two years ago, and that was for a shooting… in the town square. All three were convicted,” Cervantez said. “But all three also had a lot of ties to certain groups, rival groups, and all three were at that party, and all three were convicted of other weapons offenses.”

Nesby’s associates were also at the party the night of Jackson’s death, Cervantez said. Some were injured in the gunfire that night, while some of them were also serving time in the Illinois Department of Corrections for other, unrelated firearms incidents.

“I will say that from that party, identifying multiple individuals that attended that party, tracking who they were, they ended up getting, many of them were caught shortly thereafter on other weapons violations until there was barely any of those individuals on the streets, and the ones that were, we haven’t heard from since,” Cervantez said.

Jackson County District Attorney Cervantez will present evidence and make opening and closing statements.

More information about the charges against Nesby will be revealed during the hearing.

The Daily Egyptian contacted Nesby’s lawyer Matt Foster but received no response.

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