Plea Bargain For Joliet Killer Leaves Tomczak Law Group Pleased With His Sentence

JOLIET, IL — Five years and one month after Dartavius Payton used his gun to end the life of 20-year-old Todd Taylor in the victim's east side of Joliet driveway, the 29-year-old Will County Jail inmate walked into Will County Courtroom 404 as the only person still wearing a facial mask.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Vincent Cornelius admonished Payton at one point, telling the Joliet killer that his facial mask was making it difficult for his courtroom reporter to transcribe the plea and sentencing proceedings. Payton's three charges of first-degree murder were being dropped as was his other felony count of being a felon in possession of a gun.

In exchange, Payton pleaded guilty to the reduced crime of second-degree murder. The judge sentenced Payton to 18 years at the Illinois Department of Corrections and gave Payton credit for time already served, which was 1,791 days in the Will County Jail. Payton has remained in the Will County Jail since July 5, 2020.

A Lockport resident, Payton was represented by criminal defense attorneys Jeff Tomczak and Anna Rose Bertani of The Tomczak Law Group. The Will County State's Attorney's Office was represented by prosecutors Christopher Koch and Tricia McKenna.

"The nature of the second-degree plea is that really this was a gun fight, because that's what this was, we believe," Tomczak told Joliet Patch's editor after the sentencing.

According to Wednesday's testimony, Payton was one of at least three shooters who pulled up to Taylor's Joliet house around 9 p.m. on April 28, 2020, at 359 Grant Avenue and opened fire on Taylor, in his driveway. Courtroom testimony established that Payton and Taylor used to be friends.

On the night when Taylor's life was ended, the Joliet murder victim also had a gun at the time of his slaying, and he died from multiple gunshots. Tomczak said that two guns were recovered from the scene of the violent crime.

That night, on-duty Joliet police officers heard the gunshots from the drive-by shooting and spotted the getaway vehicle fleeing the east-side, marking one of the wildest Joliet police chases in recent history.

The fleeing Black Cadillac sports utility vehicle took Interstate 80 west to Interstate 55 southbound, before crashing near the Shell gas station in Diamond, where everyone fled. Payton's lawyers told Joliet Patch there were seven people in the fleeing SUV.

In Diamond, Payton was captured that night by the police after authorities found him crawling out of a creek bed not far from where the Cadillac SUV crashed. Payton's girlfriend lived in Diamond, prosecutors noted.

The following day, after sunrise, Joliet police recovered a total of five more guns that were tossed out the window of the fleeing Cadillac along southbound Interstate 55, including the gun that Payton used to shoot up Taylor, court files reflect.

At Wednesday's sentencing, Judge Cornelius asked Payton if he wanted to make a statement to the courtroom, which included several grieving members of Taylor's family. Three of Taylor's loved ones gave victim impact statements, telling the judge that Payton robbed them of their loved one and that Taylor's three young children are now growing up without their dad as a regular part of their lives.

"It's been very, very rough," Taylor's grandmother told the judge. "I grieve very hard."

She said that no matter how much time of incarceration Payton received at the sentencing, "it will never bring my grandson back. It's been a long very hard five years. This was a man who loved his family through and through."

As for Payton, he declined to make a statement at the time of his sentencing.

Afterward, Payton's lawyers Tomczak and Bertani told Joliet Patch that their client will likely serve another 3.75 years in the Department of Corrections prison system. The judge announced that Payton's 18-year prison sentence will be served at 50 percent.

Given that Payton is 29 years old now, he will probably return to the Lockport area when he is 33 years old.

"Based upon the facts and circumstances of this case as we interpret them this is a successful disposition for our client," Bertani informed Joliet Patch. "I want to thank our chief paralegal, Hannah McLaughlin for her hard work in the preparation of this case."

Even though Payton was one of at least three people who opened fire upon Taylor in the Grant Avenue driveway, Payton was the only person arrested by the Joliet police and prosecuted by the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow for the COVID-era Joliet homicide.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Murder Charges Filed In Joliet April 28 Killing

Joliet Police: 1 Charged Following High Speed Chase To Diamond

Joliet's 15 Homicides In 2020, Here's Where They Happened