Joliet Killer Malik Bridges Learns His Sentence: Glasgow

JOLIET — After spending the past four years and three months inside the Will County Jail, Joliet convicted killer Malik Bridges pleaded guilty on Thursday morning to taking the life of 24-year-old resident Eric Ervins at the since-demolished Fairview Public Housing projects. Under his plea agreement, Bridges pleaded guilty to the crime of second-degree murder and he will receive credit for 1,562 days already served while in custody.

Now 28 years old, Bridges was sentenced to 20 years at the Illinois Department of Corrections, and he must serve the remaining portion of his sentence at 50 percent.

Thursday's sentencing took place in Courtroom 404 of Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius.

Bridges came from the 500 block of Joliet's Eastern Avenue. Joliet police arrested him back in February 2020, almost two years after the killing happened.

In July 2020, Joliet Patch reported that the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow filed three counts of first-degree murder charges against Bridges and two felony weapons charges against him.

Bail was set at $2.6 million for the Joliet murder defendant. Bridges had been incarcerated in the Will County Jail since Feb. 20, 2020, on unrelated charges of being a felon in possession of a weapon, resisting the arrest and an Illinois Department of Corrections parole violation.

In August 2018, Joliet Patch reported that Ervins, who had a long criminal rap sheet, had just gotten out of the Will County Jail in late June after being arrested by Joliet Police officers on numerous charges that January.

That summer night at Fairview, Ervins died of multiple gunshots in the 800 block of Cardinal Lane. His death was classified as a homicide by the Joliet Police Department.