Man gets 19 years for stabbing cousin to death at birthday party

Reginald Duckworth. Photo from Chicago Police.

A Maywood man was sentenced to 19 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to stabbing his cousin to death after a South Shore birthday party last year.

Reginald Duckworth, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder at a hearing before Judge Clayton Crane, who sentenced him to 19 years, court records show.

Duckworth was part of a group of people that attended a birthday party at his cousin Willie Wilson’s home in the 2500 block of East 73rd Place on Jan. 26, 2013, prosecutors said at the time of his arrest.

After the party, Duckworth asked a woman for money multiple times. Wilson, 32, told Duckworth to stop asking for money and the two got into an argument in the basement, according to court documents.

The argument turned physical and Duckworth punched Wilson. Witnesses tried to break up the fight but Duckworth resisted, pushing an arthritic 60-year-old man to the ground before throwing Wilson over a table and stabbing him multiple times, court documents said.

Wilson told another person in the basement that Duckworth stabbed him. Witnesses saw Duckworth run away with a knife in his hand, and Wilson died at the scene, authorities said.

Duckworth, of the 1700 block of West Madison in Maywood, was also recommended for drug treatment as part of his sentence, court records show. He will receive credit for 664 days spent in the Cook County Jail.