COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man already serving 20 years in prison for paralyzing his girlfriend in 2007 now faces murder charges in the same case.
The girlfriend, Rhonda Stevenson, 58, has been quadriplegic since July 2007, when then-boyfriend Leshard Jackson strangled her and severed her spinal cord, prosecutors said. Jackson pleaded guilty to attempted murder and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Stevenson died April 11 from complications due to quadriplegia and "remote spinal cervical injuries due to assault," according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Jackson, now 36, was arrested this week and charged with first-degree murder.
According to prosecutors, Jackson and Stevenson got into an argument on July 13, 2007. Jackson got into Stevenson's car and refused to leave — so Stevenson drove to a nearby Chicago Police station and asked officers to remove Jackson from her vehicle.
When Stevenson returned home later that day to the 2300 block of East 69th Street, Jackson was there waiting for her, Assistant State's Attorney Holly Grosshans said during a bond hearing Thursday.
The couple continued to fight, prosecutors said, and Jackson strangled Stevenson until she passed out.
When the woman awoke, she could not move and asked Jackson to call an ambulance, according to Grosshans. Jackson complied, but told Stevenson to say she fell and hit her head, prosecutors said.
Stevenson was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she told medical personnel what happened, according to authorities. Jackson later admitted to choking Stevenson.
According to prosecutors, Stevenson could never again feed or take care of herself. She underwent surgery to stabilize her spinal cord, but "nothing could be done to improve her condition," Grosshans said.
In court Thursday, Jackson's public defender said Jackson was acting in self-defense in 2007 because Stevenson, "a larger, stronger, woman," attacked him first.
Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr., looked at the attorney and asked, "But he pleaded guilty [to attempting to murder the woman in 2007], right?"
"Yes," the attorney said, before noting that Jackson may go with a self-defense argument in his upcoming murder trial.
The judge set bail at $2 million. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Jackson's expected parole date for the attempted-murder sentence is in 2024.
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