Joliet Baby Killer No Longer Wants To Serve Her Prison Sentence

JOLIET —One year after pleading guilty to first-degree murder for ending the life of her infant daughter Cherish Freeman at Joliet's Bel Air Motel on Plainfield Road, Shanquilla Garvey has had a change of heart. The Illinois Department of Corrections prisoner is taking the unusual approach of asking Will County's judicial system to vacate her judgment of conviction.

These days, Garvey, now 31, is serving her sentence for her first-degree murder conviction at the downstate Logan Correctional Center in Logan after she pleaded guilty.

According to one of her court filings, Garvey was represented for several years by Will County Public Defenders George Lenard and Kristen Wyss. On Feb. 23, 2024, Garvey entered her guilty plea to the crime of first-degree murder. That same day, Garvey was sentenced to 35 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The Joliet homicide happened on Dec. 20, 2017.

"Defendant states that she wishes to withdraw that plea of guilty and set the matter for trial," Garvey and the Will County Public's Defender stated in subsequent court documents.

On Jan. 30, state of Illinois resources were expended so that Illinois Department of Corrections employees could transport Garvey from her Logan Correctional Center to the Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet and back. The round trip for a prisoner transport from Logan to Joliet and back takes at least six hours.

According to court filings, prosecutors appeared in court on Jan. 30, as did public defender Wyss and Garvey. The case was continued for a hearing on Garvey's motion to withdraw her guilty plea, and Garvey's hearing will now take place on March 26 in Courtroom 802.

According to sentencing records from Garvey's case, Joliet police responded to the Bel Air Motel for a 911 call from Garvey. She had been with the victim, who was her 8-month-old child, as well as her 2-year-old and 3-year-old children at the motel. Garvey said baby Cherish had been on the bed, and she heard a loud thump and then saw Cherish on the bed with her head by the nightstand. Garvey said she picked up the baby, who crying and then went limp.

Cherish was taken to St. Joe's Hospital in Joliet and then airlifted to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. The infant had suffered severe trauma including skull fractures, a brain bleed and liver lacerations.

Cherish underwent brain surgery and died "as the result of injuries inflicted by the defendant. In a statement she gave to police after being confronted with the major trauma the victim had, the defendant admitted and demonstrated with a doll what she had done with the victim. The defendant indicated she threw the victim into a dresser and then threw/dropped the victim to the floor," Assistant Will County State's Attorney Deborah Mills outlined.