A 21-year-old Harvey man convicted in the 2020 shooting death of 19-year-old Charles Baird of New Lenox was sentenced Monday to 45 years in prison.
Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak handed down the sentence after a hearing was delayed for several months.
Bertani-Tomczak said the defendant, who was a teenager at the time of the shooting, had a juvenile record, was involved in stealing cars and shot Baird in the back for no reason. She cited video evidence from the six-day bench trial in March that showed Baird turn and flee before he was shot.
“There was absolutely no justification for shooting him in the back as he ran away,” Bertani-Tomczak said.
She said the defendant had no record of mental health problems and noted he had a family support system. Because the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the shooting, the Daily Southtown is not naming him.
“You are the one that had the gun,” Bertani-Tomczak told him, noting Baird’s family was unable to see him while he fought for his life because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bertani-Tomczak found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder in March, after Baird was shot May 11, 2020, outside a Circle K gas station in New Lenox.
The Harvey man spoke during Monday’s hearing, saying there was only one image painted of him during the last five years.
He said while he doesn’t have kids himself, he knows what pain is.
“What do you say to a woman who loses her son,” he said, briefly turning toward Charlie’s mother, Jennifer Baird. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to say right now.”
The defendant’s sister testified her brother grew up in Hazel Crest in a “good neighborhood” and was raised by their mother and grandmother. Their mother had a serious car accident when the defendant was about 13 that left her paralyzed, and she could barely speak, which affected her brother, she said.
His grandmother died in December.
The sister testified she has remained in contact with her brother while he has been in jail and they had other family in Minnesota that had hoped to attend the hearing virtually.
Public defender Jason Strzelecki asked Bertani-Tomczak to impose a 20-year sentence, noting the defendant was a teenager who lacked maturity when Baird was shot. The boy’s family structure was not enough to keep the teen from trouble, and he had negative influences from his peer group, Strzelecki said.
Strzelecki argued the defendant is interested in psychology and has the capacity to mature and grow while in jail. He said that as an adult he realizes the pain that others can suffer, is more empathetic and he “is a redeemable human being.”
Jennifer Baird, who spoke when the sentencing hearing began last month, said she was pleased with the 45-year sentence, which included an enhancement because of the use of the gun. The defendant will be credited for time served.
“He shouldn’t have shot my son,” Jennifer Baird said. “He knew what he was doing.”
She said he was “a monster” who belongs in jail a long time.
Prosecutor Lauren Senko argued that while the defendant was a teenager, he was running around making intentional adult decisions, and had been stealing cars from throughout the state before Baird’s death. She said several officers testified that since the defendant was arrested, he has caused trouble in both the Will County River Valley Juvenile Detention Center and the Will County Jail.
“He showed no remorse for his actions,” Senko said. “He was only concerned about himself and the consequences he would face.”
The defendant last month asked Bertani-Tomczak to reconsider his guilty verdict and asked to represent himself, saying his counsel was ineffective.
Bertani-Tomczak, though, said he received a fair trial and believed he had effective public defenders representing him. The man last month asked for his family to be present in the courtroom during his sentencing, so the hearing was continued.
Jennifer Baird addressed the defendant Aug. 25, saying the last day she saw her son was Mother’s Day 2020.
“He was only 19 and figuring out what he wanted out of life,” she said during her victim impact statement. “My son was on a good path and you took that all away from us.”
“I’m a true believer that everything happens for a reason,” she said. “I don’t know why God put my son in your reckless path that night. Maybe he put Chuck there so he could stop you from doing the same thing to another innocent family.”
Baird had stopped at the New Lenox gas station in May 2020 to buy a beverage. While he was in the store, a stolen black Santa Fe parked next to his car and an individual attempted to open Baird’s locked passenger door, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
As Baird returned to his vehicle, the defendant exited the Santa Fe and confronted him, prosecutors said.
Video surveillance from the gas station showed Baird turned to run back toward the store when the defendant pulled out a handgun and shot Baird in the back before fleeing the scene, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
