Peoria woman gets 30 years in park stabbings that killed 1

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - A central Illinois woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for stabbing two people, one fatally, during a fight last year at a park.

Jatara Johnson, 31, was sentenced Thursday to 28 years for her murder conviction in the April 2018 death of Charee Alexander, who was stabbed four times in Peoria's Schmoeger Park.

Alexander's mother, Sherrce Abbey, told the court during emotional testimony before Chief Peoria County Circuit Judge Paul Gilfillan that she's devastated by her daughter's killing.

'œYou broke my family. You took my daughter, my best friend. She used to call me '~bestie,''ť said Sherrce Abbey, Alexander's mother.

Johnson was sentenced to another two years in prison for her aggravated battery conviction stemming from the stabbing of a man who survived his wounds.

The Peoria woman maintained that she didn't stab anyone at the park and that her convictions earlier this year were based on hearsay and no evidence, the Journal Star reported.