A man already serving a 20-year sentence in the attempted murder of his girlfriend in 2007 has been charged with murder after she died in April from complications from his choking her.
Leshard Jackson, 36, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Rhonda Stevenson, 58, who died April 11, according to prosecutors. Stevenson was injured July 13, 2007, and became quadriplegic following the attack, dying from complications from the quadriplegia, the Cook County medical examiner’s office determined following an autopsy April 13.
Jackson was ordered held in lieu of $2 million bail Thursday by Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr., who is current serving a prison sentence that’s due to keep him in state custody until at least 2024.
Jackson and Stevenson were dating in 2007, and got into a dispute, prosecutors said. Jackson got into Stevenson’s car, and he refused to get out, so Stevenson drove to the Grand Crossing District Station, 7040 S. Cottage Grove, and asked police officers there to get Jackson out of the car, prosecutors said.
When Stevenson returned to her home in the 2300 block of East 69th Street later that day, Jackson was waiting for her, prosecutors said. Their dispute picked up again, and during the fight, Jackson put his hands around Stevenson’s neck and choked her until she passed out.
When Stevenson woke up, she was unable to move and asked Jackson to call an ambulance, which he did while telling her to tell paramedics she fell and hit her head, prosecutor said. Paramedics took Stevenson to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and she told staff there what had happened.
Jackson made a handwritten confession to choking Stevenson, prosecutors said.
After the attack, Stevenson was permanently disabled because Jackson’s attack had severed her spinal cord, prosecutors said. She was unable to feed or care for herself the rest of her life, and after living in the 13200 block of South King Drive, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial at 11:52 a.m. on April 11.
baiduhai reporter Steve Schmadeke contributed.