Joliet man gets 36-year murder sentence
BY JON SEIDEL Sun-Times Media June 13, 2012 7:34PM
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Updated: July 15, 2012 3:36PM
Jeramy Green is a convicted murderer. But Will County Judge Sarah Jones called him a thief as well.
Green sat Wednesday in Jones’ courtroom. It was filled not with just his family members but those of Brittany Brooks, the 21-year-old woman he dated before she was found dead in January 2009. She had been stabbed 35 times at West Park between Joliet and Rockdale.
Brooks had found a new boyfriend, her family said. And Green couldn’t handle it.
She’s dead, robbed from her family. And Green’s family has lost him too. Both sides listened as Jones sentenced Green to 36 years in prison for Brooks’ murder. She said Green stole away his own future.
“He stole from himself by the actions in that car,” Jones said.
In April, the judge found Green, 27, of Joliet, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for Brooks’ death.
Police said Green attacked Brooks Jan. 7, 2009. A passing driver discovered her body at West Park that night, lying in the snow and covered in blood next to her white Chevy Cavalier, according to court records.
Green was arrested a few hours later. Police said he confessed but he pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorney Chuck Bretz objected through every step of Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.
He objected to the contents of statements submitted by Brooks’ family — some of their comments were inappropriate, he said — and he opposed the number of statements from Brooks’ family that prosecutors sought to read aloud.
Co-counsel Cosmo Tedone has promised an appeal.
The judge ultimately heard all five statements submitted by Brooks’ family. She also listened to four members of Green’s family.
Green’s family called him a fun, decent man who wanted to join the FBI. They said he’s not violent and no menace to society.
But Brooks’ mother, Sherry Barnes, said Green’s crime turned her life into a nightmare.
“Every day I wake up and I have to drag my body out of bed,” Barnes said. “I have to face the reality that Jeramy killed my little girl. And I try to keep going.”
