Man found guilty of murder for 2011 Joliet shooting

A southwest suburban man has been fund guilty of murder for shooting another man to death outside a Joliet boxing club in 2011.

A jury Friday found 22-year-old Jevon Lesley guilty of first-degree murder for the shooting death of 18-year-old Anthony Fearn, according to a statement from the Will County state’s attorney’s office.

Lesley, of Lockport Township, opened fire outside the KO Boxing Club in the 200 block of Cass Street on July 9, 2011, during a fight between Vice Lord and Gangster Disciples gang members, prosecutors said. Witnesses testified that he fired at least five shots.

Fearn, of Crest Hill, was an innocent bystander with no connection to any street gangs, the state’s attorney’s office said. He had attended a party at the club with a friend earlier that evening and climbed inside a minivan to hide from the gunfire after Lesley started shooting.

A bullet hit Fearn in his left arm while he was inside the minivan before lodging in his chest, nicking his lung and trachea in the process, according to prosecutors.

“This was a vicious attack by a violent gangbanger who demonstrated a ruthless disregard for the sanctity of human life,” State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow said in the statement. “Jevon Lesley gunned down an innocent young man in cold blood outside that boxing club. This conviction takes a callous killer off our streets.”

Lesley, who is set to be sentenced by Circuit Judge Sarah Jones Sept. 16, faces 45 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.