Teen pleads guilty to reduced charges in fatal Lake County car theft
Diamond Davis, 18 | Lake County sheriff's office
WAUKEGAN - The oldest of five Chicago teenagers initially charged with felony murder in connection with a fatal shooting during an attempted car theft last month in the north suburbs pleaded guilty Thursday to reduced charges.
Diamond Davis, 18, entered guilty pleas to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit burglary and a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass to a vehicle in Lake County court, according to a statement from the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.
She will remain held on $1 million bail pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 18, prosecutors said. She faces up to 3 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the conspiracy charge and up to a year in the lake County Jail for the trespassing charge.
Davis and four other teens – Kendrick Cooper, 17; Stacy Davis, 17; Steven Davis, 17; and Curtis Dawson, 16 – were initially charged with felony murder for the death of 14-year-old Jaquan Swopes, who was shot to death by an Old Mill Creek resident on Aug. 13 as the group allegedly tried to break into the man’s vehicle.
The Lake County state’s attorney’s office later dropped the charges on Sept. 19, filing the reduced charges against Davis and referring the other teens’ cases to juvenile court.