Convicted Joliet killer receives lengthy prison sentence

A Joliet man was sentenced to 48 years in prison for shooting his girlfriend to death.

A jury found Jasper Johnson, 36, guilty of murdering Kia Johnson in their Riverwalk Homes apartment on June 5, 2017. At the time, the apartment complex was known as Evergreen Terrace.

On Thursday, Judge Sarah Jones sentenced Jasper Johnson to serve 100% of a 48-year prison sentence for the murder. He will also serve at least 50% of a three-year prison term for two unlawful use of a weapon convictions while he serves the 48 for murder.

Jasper Johnson was credited with serving over four and half years in jail, which may put his actual time in prison closer to about 43 years.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in a statement that Jasper Johnson is a “convicted felon who tried to absolve himself of responsibility for the death of his girlfriend by claiming he was just playing with the gun.”

“Nothing can bring Kia back to life but Johnson will have decades in the ominous confines of a dismal prison cell to reflect on how his actions caused her death,” Glasgow said.

During last year’s jury trial, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Deborah Mills rejected Jasper Johnson’s repeated claim that the shooting was an accident and he was only playing with a gun. She said Jasper Johnson had control of himself and the gun and he was downplaying the incident by further claiming he was only playing with the gun.

“He was playing around with Kia’s life that day,” Mills said.

Jasper Johnson’s attorney, Edward Jaquays, told the jury that the evidence established in the case did not prove his client intended to shoot his girlfriend. Jaquays said the incident was the “ugly side of carelessness.”

Jaquays said that after Kia Johnson was shot, his client screamed for help, pounded on the doors of other apartments for help and called for an ambulance.

“Is this consistent with somebody that did it on purpose?” Jaquays said.

During Jasper Johnson’s interview with police, he paced around room, talked to himself and expressed regret over Kia Johnson’s death, saying, “I’m sorry baby. I hope you survive.”

He kept asking detectives about Kia Johnson’s status at the hospital and claimed he couldn’t remember details of the incident because he had been drinking and smoking marijuana.

Jasper Johnson became upset several times with Joliet police detective David Jackson as he was asking him questions to obtain details about the incident and accused Jackson of “trying to make me say something.”

“I’m not trying to get you to say anything other than the truth,” Jackson said.