A Downstate man was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison for killing a police informant to keep her from testifying against his brother in a drug case.
Marquelle Palmer, 32, brought Michelle Woods to Chicago in the spring of 2012 to duck a subpoena to testify against Palmer’s twin brother in a Bloomington, Ill., drug case.
After plying Woods — who’d struggled with substance abuse — with alcohol and drugs for several days, Palmer learned that Woods still was talking to police in Bloomington, Judge Stanley Sacks said Friday, rehashing the evidence from Palmer’s trial earlier this year. Two weeks after her court date, Woods’ body was found in the trash-strewn basement of an abandoned home in Lawndale.
“He knew at some point she was going to go back [to Bloomington],” the judge surmised. “His view was that the only reason she’s going to go back is for a funeral.”
Palmer, who already is serving a 14-year sentence on federal drug charges showed little reaction as Sacks handed down the sentence.
The judge noted that murder of a witness in a criminal trial had been a capital offense before Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.
“This was not just a crime against Michelle Woods, it was a crime against the entire judicial system,” Sacks said.
Woods’ 22-year-old son, Noah, was seated in the courtroom gallery during the hearing, and afterward said he’d hoped Palmer got a longer sentence. Though her addiction had forced her to give up custody of her five children, Woods had been a presence in her children’s lives, had a job lined up and planned to go back to school in the weeks before her death, he said.
“Before all this, she was staying away from drugs, she had a new job and was making a little money,” said Noah Woods, who was adopted by family friends. “I was hoping for an even longer [sentence], because of how close I was with my mom.”
