Woman gets 18 years for pushing grandson to murder grandfather

A 67-year-old woman was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday for urging her grandson to kill his grandfather outside their Far South Side home in 2013.

Janet Strickland encouraged 23-year-old William Strickland to shoot his namesake grandfather six times in the back as the 72-year-old walked out of their home in the 400 block of East 95th Street to grab a bus to his weekly dialysis treatment on March 2, 2013, according to Cook County prosecutors.

The woman persuaded him to pull the trigger so they both could spend the elderly man’s money, prosecutors said. He later used money from his grandfather’s wallet to buy a new phone, gym shoes and tattoos.

She was convicted in April of numerous charges, including murder and solicitation of murder, Cook County Circuit Court records show. A judge handed down the 18-year sentence Wednesday.

The younger William Strickland, who used his grandfather’s own gun in the killing, was convicted in February and sentenced to 40 years in prison.