A plea deal has been offered to a Gurnee man charged with drug-induced homicide in the 2014 death of a 22-year-old Waukegan resident, officials say.
Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Newman told Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Levitt on Thursday that the state has tendered a plea deal offer to Kareem Perkins, 32, and that Perkins and his defense attorney, Gregory Nikitas, are reviewing the offer.
Levitt set another court appearance for Perkins on Oct. 24.
Nikitas had no comment after the hearing, and Newman said he could not discuss specific details of the plea offer.
Perkins is charged with drug-induced homicide in the March 14, 2014, death of Christopher Tiskus. Waukegan police were called on that date to a home in the 400 block of Keller Avenue at 10:20 p.m. for a person who was not breathing.
Officers found Tiskus dead at the scene, and it was determined he died from a drug overdose, a statement from police said. Waukegan Police Department gang intelligence unit detectives took Perkins into custody three days later.
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Perkins is also charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. Prosecutors have said heroin and cocaine were involved in the case.
Drug-induced homicide, the most serious charge he faces, is a class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison upon conviction.
A co-defendant in the case, Haitham Qasem, also of Gurnee, accepted a plea deal in the case last year.
In the negotiated plea deal, Qasem pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a class 1 felony, and was sentenced by Levitt to 36 months of probation and 36 months of periodic imprisonment.
He had already served 375 days in Lake County Jail, officials said.
Perkins remans in Lake County Jail with bail set at $500,000.
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