2012 Batavia stabbing murder case set for January trial
A Jan. 12, 2015, jury trial date has been set for Latoya M. Baines, a Batavia woman accused of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend in April 2012.
Baines, 26, of the 1200 block of East Wilson Avenue, faces 20 to 60 years in prison if convicted of killing Gerald Jackson, 25, in the city's first murder since 2004.
Baines has been held on $750,000 bail since her arrest April 30, 2012, outside of a Batavia apartment complex on the 1100 block of Wilson Avenue.
Prosecutors have said Baines stabbed Jackson, with whom she had two children, because she thought he was cheating on her.
Baines was ruled fit to stand trial this spring after an evaluation, and she unsuccessfully tried to have her statements to police after her arrest banned from court. She also told police she was bipolar, but shared that information after she was told she would be charged with murder, according to court testimony.
Prosecutors say Baines, who is expected to argue self-defense in her trial, told police she had a knife and was present when Jackson was stabbed and killed.
Baines appeared briefly in Kane County court Thursday and is next due in court Sept. 25 before Judge Susan Clancy Boles, according to court records.