Joliet Killer Walks Free Under Plea With State's Attorney Glasgow

JOLIET, IL — Last week's plea agreement worked out by Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow means that Joliet killer Christopher Beale will not serve any prison sentence at the Illinois Department of Corrections for the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Marcedes Flakes. She was stabbed through the back and Beale's knife pierced her heart, taking her life, on October 1, 2018, at the now-demolished Fairview public housing projects.

On Monday, April 15, in Courtroom 402 of Will County Judge Dan Rippy, Beale was taken back into custody to finish serving a short period of incarceration — a total of five days. Then, at breakfast time on Friday, Beale packed his bags at the jail and he headed home. He's now on parole, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office offered Beale, who served as his own lawyer, the chance to plead guilty to second-degree murder, and if he accepted that deal, his first-degree murder charges would be dismissed.

Beale went along with the offer, bringing an end to his murder case more than five-and-a-half years after Joliet police arrested him.

Under the agreement, Beale was sentenced to 11 years at the Illinois Department of Corrections, however, Beale has already served more than five years at the Will County Jail, while awaiting his trial. As a result, Beale will receive credit for time already served.

Beale's second-degree murder term will also be served at 50 percent, according to the prosecution's agreement. In other words, 11 years in prison is really 5.5 years in Will County detention.

Beale's Version Of Events

Before being taken back into custody at Monday's sentencing, Beale had regained his freedom from Judge Rippy under the SAFE-T-Act last November 22. Prior to that, Beale had been in the Will County Jail since the day of the murder, Oct. 1, 2018.

Two days before Judge Rippy agreed to let Beale out of the Will County Jail, the Joliet murder defendant, acting as his own lawyer, filed several pages of court documents, arguing he acted in self-defense when he took the life of his estranged girlfriend.

"On October 1, 2018, there was a domestic dispute between the defendant and the victim in this case which happens to be the mother of his three children," Beale notified Judge Rippy on Nov. 20. "The victim had a cooking pan which was striking the defendant across the face with so much blunt force that it busted the defendant (sic) lips and dented the pan.

"There was a struggle over a kitchen stake (sic) knife which the defendant gain possession of, the victim continue to strike the defendant in the face with the pan which caused a reaction by the defendant to fend off his attacker by swinging the knife one time which struck the victim in the back of her shoulder which pierced a main artery," Beale wrote the judge.

At that point, Flakes "continued to attack the defendant after she was struck, so the defendant took the knife and fled from the home, threw the knife in the garbage can behind the house and fled to Chicago where he turned himself into Chicago Police Department who turned him over to Joliet Police Department."

Joliet Patch has written lots of articles about Beale and the murder of Flakes over the years.

Victim's Supporters: "She Was Trying To Get Away From Him"

Back on Oct. 2, 2018, supporters of Flakes told Joliet Patch that the fatal stabbing at the Fairview public housing complex was witnessed by the couple's oldest child as several of the victim's children were home getting ready for school.

They said Flakes had lived at the Fairview public housing unit for about a year. Beale was not staying there, and he had pulled up his car and went inside the apartment that Monday morning, yelling at her and then using a knife to stab her as she tried to get away from him, according to friends of the homicide victim.

The knife wound punctured one of the arteries in her heart, the prosecutor said in court.

"He took her life. She was trying to get away from him," one of the relatives said outside the courtroom. "Marci was a good person. He took her away from her babies."

Prior to his arrest, Beale lived in the 1300 block of Joliet's Arthur Avenue.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Joliet Murder Defendant Christopher Beale Doesn't Need Lawyer

Joliet Murder Defendant Of 5 Years Let Out Of Jail By Judge

Knife Pierced Heart Of Joliet Mother At Fairview

5 Sentimental Photos Sent To Joliet Murder Defendant Lost: Suit