Ex-North Chicago man gets another 30 years

A former North Chicago man in custody for almost nine years for the 2001 slayings of two women was convicted of the second murder Friday in Lake County circuit court.

Geoffrey Cochran, 35, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting there was enough evidence to convict him for the June 17, 2001, murder of Charkeia Petty, 21.

That term will begin to run at the end of the 58-year sentence Cochran received in May 2007 for the July 1, 2001, murder of Quenisha Richardson, 24.

The slayings of both women went unsolved for almost a year until DNA evidence linked Cochran to both crimes. At the time, he was serving a prison term for violating his parole for criminal trespass to a residence.

Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Scheller said Cochran accompanied Petty to her apartment on the day she died, strangled her and put her body in a bathtub full of water.

Richardson was also strangled by Cochran, Scheller said, and placed inside her pickup truck. It was then set on fire near 14th and Lincoln streets in North Chicago. A jury found him guilty of that crime in April 2007, and Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti sentenced him to 58 years in prison the following month.

Cochran did not withdraw his not guilty plea to Petty’s slaying on Friday, but instead told Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes he believed the evidence against him would be enough to convince a judge or jury he was guilty.

Shanes then convicted Cochran of first-degree murder and imposed the additional 30-year prison sentence.

Cochran was charged with both crimes on May 22, 2002 and will receive credit for eight years, 11 months and one week in custody against his total prison sentence.

Under the sentencing laws in effect in 2001, Cochran will only have to serve 50 percent of each term before becoming eligible for parole, Scheller said.

Petty’s relatives were not present in the courtroom Friday and efforts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.