Champaign man gets 40 years in fatal shooting

URBANA — A judge in east-central Illinois has handed down a 40-year sentence for a Champaign man convicted in the fatal shooting of a man gunned down while with his wife and children.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette ( http://bit.ly/rf5obD ) reports that prosecutors had asked Judge Harry Clem to impose the maximum 60-year sentence, while defense attorneys had argued for a lesser sentence for 20-year-old Demarco Taylor.

Taylor was convicted in June of first-degree murder for his part in the 2008 death of 34-year-old James Ellis.

Prosecutors contend a man still awaiting trial shot Ellis, but they say Taylor was present and also had a gun when Ellis was killed.