Plea deal reached in Bloomingdale mechanic's murder

A 24-year-old Chicago man who admitted to police he beat a Bloomingdale mechanic to death "until his arm was tired" will spend the next half of his life behind bars.

Timothy Bailey-Woodson was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday as part of a plea agreement with DuPage County prosecutors that included dropping seven of the eight charges he was facing. Bailey-Woodson agreed to plead guilty to murdering 53-year-old David G. Coungeris in March 2009 in exchange for the prison sentence.

Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Steve Knight said the minimum sentence was 20 years and the maximum was 100 years. Knight said Bailey-Woodson was "cooperative with law enforcement and admitted wrongdoing."

Bailey-Woodson used to work for his victim, doing odd jobs around the auto repair shop on South Gary Road, authorities said. Bailey-Woodson had been living at the auto shop for several weeks before the murder, authorities said.

At Tuesday's sentencing, Knight characterized Coungeris' death the result of an "altercation" between the two men. But previously, prosecutors had said Bailey-Woodson claimed he killed Coungeris after the mechanic made sexual advances toward him while they slept in a bed at the repair shop.

Neither Knight nor Bailey-Woodson's attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Jeff York, would comment about Bailey-Woodson's allegation.

Prosecutors said Bailey-Woodson put on gloves and used a tool he found in the shop to beat Coungeris over the head. Bailey-Woodson said he believed he struck his victim about 25 times. Knight said the attack resulted in blood spraying onto the walls of Coungeris' repair shop office.

York said his client endured a troubled childhood, which included "bouncing around between several relatives who were taking care of him" as a youngster and abuse at the hands of a stranger when he was a child. Bailey-Woodson told DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis during the sentencing hearing that he had dropped out of high school.

Bailey-Woodson also was sentenced to another seven years in prison Tuesday after having his probation revoked stemming from a car theft conviction before Coungeris's murder. That sentence will be served concurrent to the murder sentence, Bakalis said.

State law mandates convicted murderers are not eligible for early release, so Bailey-Woodson must spend all 25 years of the sentence behind bars. He will receive credit for the 320 days he has been in the county jail since his arrest last March.

Coungeris' family said they did not want to speak to the media after Tuesday's sentencing.