An Illinois man got 92.5 years Thursday for putting his five kids in another room in Gary, then shooting their mother dead in the living room.
His lawyer indicated he will appeal.
Samuel Carlos Edwards, 38, of Riverdale, Illinois, was convicted last month of murder, five counts of neglect of a dependent, in addition to a firearms enhancement. He had put the five children — then ranging in age from 6 to 1 — in a neighboring bedroom and gave them a phone to watch before closing the door and killing Ieisha Jefferson on Dec. 27, 2022 at a residence in the 3800 block of Adams Street in Gary.
Afterward, he called 911, saying his name was “Carlos” to report the shooting.
Simone Johnson, Jefferson’s childhood friend, said on the stand that they messaged back and forth about Edwards’ abuse, but Jefferson told her not to get involved.
Nellie Williams, Jefferson’s step-grandmother, said Gary Police showed up shortly afterward with the children. She cared for them for two years, until Jefferson’s cousin Leticia McNuckle recently adopted them.
Initially, the children were “confused” and continued to ask for their mom, McNuckle said. The school called when one child shared what happened with a classmate. Another got into a fight.
“They lost both parents,” McNuckle said. “I hate that this happened.”
Jefferson was both like a “sister” and “child” to her. When things got bad, she called McNuckle with her problems. When Edwards abused her, Jefferson said it was a “misunderstanding.”
“Yeah…,” McNuckle said as she trailed off.
She believed Edwards moved Jefferson to Gary from Illinois to get her away from her family. She asked for a maximum sentence.
Prosecutors also played video snippets from each child — mostly saying they missed her and loved her.
Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar, with co-counsel Lindsey Lanham, asked for 90 years.
He noted Jefferson was left paralyzed from the neck down and would have stayed alive as long as she could breathe, according to a county forensic pathologist.
She suffocated to death after she was shot — while her children were in the other room. Edwards “left them there to find their mother,” Balcazar said.
He was extradited from Texas where he was arrested in connection with another crime. The youngest child would have no memory of his mother, just a “concept” of what a mother should be, he said.
Defense lawyer Michael Lambert told Judge Natalie Bokota that she should “tailor a fair sentence,” without giving a specific number.
Edwards had a tough upbringing, which should be a mitigating factor in his sentence, Lambert argued.
After Lambert said Edwards wouldn’t speak in court, Bokota asked again if he wanted to address her.
“No,” he responded.
Bokota noted Jefferson did “not die immediately” and “suffocated” to death. Edwards had “dozens” of arrests, including three felony convictions.
The children were left with a “gruesome” image of their mother lying in her own blood. Over time, they still ran to the door to see if their mother was there.
“I cannot imagine that kind of trauma,” she said.
She also noted Edwards had 17 kids with seven women and could not name some.
A witness told investigators Edwards and Jefferson had dated on-and-off for six years and had five children. They moved to Gary the year before. He was “very abusive.”
The trial featured heart-wrenching testimony from Jefferson’s daughter, who said she heard a “gunshot,” then later saw her mom “asleep.”
Lambert asked the girl how she knew what the sound was.
“My brother told me,” the girl said, holding a stuffed unicorn on the stand.
Edwards was not there when they opened the door, she testified. She was 5 at the time of the shooting.
Jefferson had her right arm over her face, as if trying to defend herself. Three live, .38-caliber bullets were found nearby.
Detectives subpoenaed the cell phone of the 911 caller, which pinged at the Adams Street address at the time of the shooting. Jefferson’s friends and family shunned Edwards for how he treated her, court records allege.
After the court hearing, McNuckle said Jefferson was studying to go into a medical field. She was a loving mother. Family said Jefferson’s own mother died in a domestic-related incident years before.
McNuckle said she never liked Edwards, but Jefferson’s “love was blind.”
“She tried everything to protect her kids, even if she couldn’t protect herself,” McNuckle said.
