URBANA, Ill. (WAND) – A man accused of battering a bar employee and a jail inmate pleaded guilty to multiple charges.
The News-Gazette reports 24-year-old Elijah Duckworth entered his pleas in Champaign County court Monday. He was involved in the battery of an employee at Brothers Bar & Grill (613 E. Green St., Champaign) on March 15, and the beating of Champaign County Jail inmate Herbert Shah on July 2.
Security video showed the Brothers employee was trying to break up a fight as several people hit him. The beating of Shah involved Duckworth hitting him with closed fists.
His pleas were to aggravated battery charges in both cases. He was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for each charge and must serve them back-to-back for a total term of five years.
Duckworth is also accused of robbing a man he knew on July 21 along Staley Road in Champaign as he walked with his 6-year-old son and after getting money out of an ATM. Authorities said Duckworth and 23-year-old Trevoy Fonville made death threats against the victim and said he would have to follow their demands or they would kill him in front of the child.
That case will move forward on Nov. 19, according to the newspaper. Fonville is expected to go on trial for the robbery and for the beating of Shah.
Duckworth’s criminal record includes adult convictions for theft, obstructing justice and aggravated battery, along with a juvenile robbery conviction.
