An Illinois appellate court is upholding a 45-year prison sentence for a Peoria teenager convicted of a 2019 murder.
The 3rd District appellate court said Judge Katherine Gorman properly considered Zaveon Marks' age and circumstances when she handed down her sentence in 2020.
"(T)he circuit court had plenty of evidence of defendant’s youth and attendant characteristics before it and made more than a passing mention of them," the 3rd District Appellate Court decision reads. "There is nothing in the record that indicates the court did not consider the mitigating factors defendant presented. To the contrary, there is every indication it considered all the mitigating evidence."
Marks, now 18, was 14 at the time of the June 2019 shooting death of 16-year-old Zarious Fair in the 700 block of East Frye.
Marks was tried in adult court. Authorities said Marks shot Fair three times during a premeditated armed robbery attempt after discovering he had nothing to steal.
In his appeal, Marks argued his case shouldn't have been transferred to adult court. He also said he had ineffective counsel and suffered a violation of his due process rights when his attorney allowed a biased juror to serve on the jury. He also claimed prosecutors failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Marks was on probation for another armed robbery at the time of the murder. He also assaulted a developmental specialist at the Peoria County Juvenile Detention Center while awaiting sentencing, breaking several bones in her face, prosecutors said.
In her ruling, Gorman said Zarious Fair died "senselessly," and that similar crimes must be deterred. She found Marks' behavior "suggests an irretrievable depravity, permanent incorrigibility, or irreparable corruption beyond the possibility of rehabilitation."
Marks will be eligible for parole in 2040.
