A Beardstown man found guilty in August of first-degree murder after a 4-day trial in Cass County Circuit Court was sentenced to over four decades in prison yesterday afternoon.
37-year old Jean C. Santiago-Nieves was sentenced to 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections with an additional sentence of 25 years for firearm enhancement for the shooting death of 27-year old Steve Dominguez on May 31st. The sentences are to be served consecutively for a total of 45 years, and must be served at 100%.
Over the course of the 4-day trial, the jury saw over two dozen pieces of physical evidence, heard and watched both video and audio recordings taken of interviews, and listened to over a dozen people testify in the case that showed that Santiago-Nieves shot Dominguez over an illegal cannabis venture that Dominguez supposedly wanted out of. Santiago-Nieves said in one of the recordings that he admitted to shooting Dominguez but was motivated out of self-defense over an argument the two were having in front of Dominguez’s home in Beardstown.
Santiago-Nieves was given credit for 123 days served in the Schuyler County Jail after his initial arrest and was ordered to pay a county fine.