A former University student will now spend the better part of the next two decades in prison.
18-year-old Kavion Poplous of Chicago pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder in June stemming from an incident at Western Illinois University in September of last year.
On September 15th, Poplous shot his roommate five times at close range on the 12th-floor hallway of Thompson Hall. According to WGEM, McDonough County Circuit Judge William Poncin sentenced Poplous to 18 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections Friday afternoon.
According to the report, McDonough County Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Terry says Poplous is required to serve 85% of the 18-year sentence. He says he asked for Poplous to be sentenced to 30 years, the maximum allowable sentence. Poplous’ attorney asked for a sentence between 4 to 7 years.
Poplous spent two weeks on the run before turning himself in at a Chicago police precinct. He was initially charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and aggravated discharge of a firearm. Poplous originally plead not guilty to all the charges on October 6th.
In exchange for his open guilty plea, the aggravated battery and aggravated discharge counts were dropped.