A jury found 20-year-old University Park resident Jakharr Williams guilty Monday of murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery for a 2019 shooting at Orland Square mall.
The verdict came after Jakharr Williams testified he thought he was in danger when he shot and killed high school senior Javon Britten, his attorney said Monday.
David Drwencke said about a month before the shooting, Britten threatened Williams during an altercation at a gas station. Fast forward to their interaction in Orland Park, he said, Williams felt uneasy before he shot Britten in the chest.
“In that moment, Jakharr believes he’s going to die that second,” Drwencke told jurors Monday during his closing arguments at the Bridgeview Courthouse. “He thought it was possible, but if he had a reasonable belief that he was facing great bodily harm or death, he is justified in reacting that way and defending himself.”
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Williams testified he shot and killed Britten in self-defense, which prosecutors disputed during closing arguments. Assistant State’s Attorney Cheryl Galvin asserted Monday Williams “was the aggressor the entire time” and challenged Drwencke’s claims that Williams previously tried to alleviate tensions with Britten and his group of friends.
“At any point, he could have turned and walked away, but that’s not why he was there,” Galvin said. “That’s not what he was there for.”
Video surveillance presented during the five-day trial showed Williams enter the mall with two girls, who entered Orland Square’s Akira store on the first floor while Williams walked toward the food court. He encountered Britten and his two friends, Armani Griffin and Charles Williams, near the food court after they left a nearby restroom.
Charles Williams previously testified Jakharr Williams greeted the group, saying “what’s up,” before the interaction grew heated.
“I thought they were going to fight each other,” Charles Williams testified Wednesday. He said he didn’t imagine Jakharr would take out a gun until he saw a silver object in his sweatshirt pocket.
But neither he nor Griffin said they remembered what else was said as the young men tried to pull Britten away from Jakharr Williams. According to Williams’ testimony, Britten at one point said, “I bet you ain’t got nothing anyways.”
“It was interpreted by Jakharr as not having a weapon,” Drwencke said.
Prosecutors showed surveillance footage that confirmed the men’s locations as they moved through the mall, with Jakharr Williams following the group of three as they left the food court. They said Jakharr Williams “was shopping for a fight,” and suggested he knew the three men were at the mall because they were posting on social media.
“Was this defendant justified? Absolutely not,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle Gruca. “He wants you now to believe that he had no choice but to do what he did. But that would require to ignore everything he actually did that day.”
Jurors began deliberations Monday morning and will decide whether Williams should be held responsible for first- or second-degree murder, along with the other charges, or found not guilty.
Illinois law justifies use of force when a person “reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or another against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force,” according to state statute.
A person should be found guilty of second-degree murder, rather than first-degree murder, when the person believes the circumstances would justify or exonerate the killing, “but his or her belief is unreasonable,” according to state statute.
Drwencke, representing Williams, acknowledged that when Williams and Britten faced off at Orland Square mall, “what followed is tragic.”
“Somebody lost their life, plenty of people were scared,” he said. “There was a shooting in a public place. Nobody thinks any of that is particularly good. But for all the pomp and circumstances, the emotion, the theatrics, the stages put on for you, all the nonsense — we’re here to make a decision about what happened in a matter of seconds.”