Joliet man pleads guilty to unintentionally killing man in Romeoville fatal shooting

Adrian Bailey

A Joliet man pleaded guilty to unintentionally killing a 24-year-old man in Romeoville by racking the slide of a firearm that was pointed in the slain man’s direction.

On Monday, Adrian Bailey, 20, was sentenced to serve 50% of a two-year prison sentence by Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak after he pleaded guilty to the involuntary manslaughter of Dennis Lee III on Sept. 8, in Romeoville. Bailey was also given credit for 335 days already served in the Will County jail.

Bailey’s sentence was recommended by prosecutors as part of a plea agreement.

At the time of Bailey’s arrest last year, Romeoville Deputy Police Chief Brant Hromadka said Lee was the driver of a vehicle and Bailey was one of the passengers. He said Bailey was handling a firearm that went off and struck Lee.

Prosecutors said Bailey unintentionally killed Lee when he racked the slide of a firearm, which was pointed in the direction of Lee as he was driving a vehicle. Racking the slide of a firearm involves pulling back the upper part of a firearm.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Dan Egan said at Monday’s plea hearing that Bailey was in the vehicle with several of his friends and they unsuccessfully tried to perform life-saving measures on Lee after he was shot.

Egan read a statement to Bertani-Tomczak from a family member of Lee who said his death was a “heartbreaking tragedy due to gun violence.”

Bailey’s attorney, Chuck Bretz, said his client and Lee were best friends.

“It’s obviously a tragedy and he takes responsibility for his actions,” Bretz said.

Bailey’s plea agreement also included prosecutors dropping other charges against him.

Those charges included possession of a firearm without a firearm owner identification card and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon over the same Sept. 8 incident.

Prosecutors also dropped charges of aggravated fleeing and possession of ammunition without a FOID card in two separate cases against Bailey as part of the plea agreement.