Sentencing hearing for Baker postponed

MORRIS – The sentencing for Kasim Baker, 33, of Joliet, who on Sept. 23 was found guilty of second-degree murder in the March 8, 2019, death of Daniel Smiley, 65, of Morris, has been postponed.

The sentencing hearing originally was scheduled for Jan. 14 and 15, but it was postponed to March 2 and 3 at the request of Baker’s attorney, Grundy County Public Defender Gary Dobbs.

During the trial in September, prosecutors alleged that Baker stabbed Smiley 36 times with a kitchen knife. In his videotaped statement to Morris police detectives, Baker admitted to stabbing Smiley six or seven times.

Although Baker originally had been charged with first-degree murder, the jury decided on a guilty verdict of second-degree murder because jurors felt that Baker did not go to Smiley’s apartment with the intent of killing him and that the stabbing occurred in the heat of the moment, jury foreman Daniel Schmitz had said after the conviction, according to Morris Herald-News reports.

Grundy County State’s Attorney Jason Helland said his office will seek the maximum sentence for Baker, which would be 20 years in prison. Second-degree murder is a Class 1 felony punishable by four to 20 years in prison. An alternative to jail time permits probation for up to four years.