Bolingbrook man sentenced for fatally shooting young mom in front of child in Joliet: 'evil incarnate'
Jermaine Mandley
JOLIET, Ill. - A Bolingbrook man has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting a mother in front of her two-year-old daughter in Joliet earlier this year.
Jermaine Mandley, 48, was found guilty in August on first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Maya Smith.
Shortly after midnight on Jan. 8, Joliet police officers responded to a call for a suspicious silver Nissan Rogue parked in the alley west of the 1200 block of Clement Street.
At that time, officers found 24-year-old Smith dead inside the vehicle.
Police determined she had been shot multiple times in her abdomen and her head. Smith's two-year-old daughter was in the back seat between the rear driver's side door and rear seat at the time of the shooting.
Shell casings were discovered on the front passenger side of the vehicle as well.
Surveillance video of the alley from the Southside Civic Cub captured a person exiting the front passenger door of the vehicle and standing in the doorway, facing the inside of the vehicle with the door still open, prosecutors said.
The video also captured muzzle flashes inside the vehicle and showed the individual shutting the vehicle’s door, running away, going back to the vehicle and running again, prosecutors said.
While investigating, it was determined that Mandley had been in a relationship with Smith and text messages on Smith's phone confirmed that she agreed to meet him on Jan. 7.
Mandley was also scheduled to work the following day but did not show up, prosecutors said. He was later located in Chicago.
His DNA was found on the interior door handle of the passenger side of the vehicle, which was the same door the shooter exited on the video. Mandley's face was also seen on a Ring video camera at a friend's house down the block about four minutes later.
"Jermaine Mandley is evil incarnate. He ruthlessly fired at least 7 shots at Maya Smith with her infant daughter just inches away. The sadistic executioner was caught on video saying, ‘killed that b---h’ and ‘she dead – call that b---h now.’ He has repeatedly demonstrated throughout his extensive criminal history an utter lack of respect for the sanctity of human life," said Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow. "The daughter of Maya Smith now faces a life sentence without her mother. Although Mandley’s life sentence can never bring Maya back, he is exorcised from civilized society for the remainder of his satanic life."
Mandley had a previous conviction for Reckless Homicide, where he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In that case, Mandley was driving with a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit and without a license, prosecutors said.
While fleeing police, he drove through a red light and crashed into a car that was being driven by a Chicago pastor. The crash killed both the pastor and his wife, prosecutors said.
He has also been convicted of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. He was sentenced to three and a half years for that crime.