Man guilty of second-degree murder in stabbing death

James Webb was convicted Friday of second-degree murder in the August 2008 stabbing death of Cydric Jones, 36, during a drug transaction.

The eight women and four men seated before Circuit Judge John Phillips deliberated about six hours across two days before finding Webb guilty of a lesser crime than the first-degree murder charge prosecutors had filed against him.

Webb, 25, of Round Lake, will face a prison sentence of four to 20 years when he returns to face Phillips for sentencing March 5.

Jones, of Waukegan, was stabbed once in the heart after he punched Webb as the two argued over a drug debt owed to Jones by one of Webb's co-workers.

Assistant state's attorneys Steven Derue and James Newman said the evidence showed Webb intended to kill Jones when he carried a steak knife from his house to the meeting with Jones in Round Lake Beach.

Webb also told his cousin he intended to stab Jones, the prosecutors said, and bragged about doing so afterward.

But defense attorneys Kevin Malia and Eric Rinehart told jurors Webb was terrified of Jones, who he had seen threaten his co-worker over the money, and only went to see him because his need for cocaine was so great.

Jones had also shown Webb that he had a 9 mm pistol at a prior meeting, the attorneys said, and Webb could not be sure Jones did not have the gun on the night they met.

The jurors apparently accepted the defense contention that Webb stabbed Jones because he thought it was necessary to protect himself, but that the belief was unreasonable.

Webb will be held without bond in the Lake County jail until the sentencing hearing.

Had he been convicted of first-degree murder, Webb would have faced a prison sentence of 20 to 60 years.