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News
50-year jail term for Montgomery man : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, Illinois50-year jail term for Montgomery man
| LeSure pleads guilty in '09 arson fire that killed cousin, brother
| by Tony Scott
| 9/6/2012
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The Montgomery man who prosecutors say murdered his brother and cousin in a 2009 house fire was sentenced to 50 years in state prison as part of a plea deal this week.
Theddias LeSure, 24, plead guilty but mentally ill last Friday to one of the 28 murder and arson-related counts against him and agreed to the prison sentence in a pact between his defense counsel, Kendall County Public Defender Victoria Chuffo and Aurora attorney Gary Johnson, and Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis.
LeSure received credit for time served - he has served 1,107 days in the Kendall County Jail in Yorkville and at the state-run Chester Mental Health Center - and will be released on June 13, 2059, according to Judge Timothy J. McCann, who sentenced LeSure. LeSure will have to serve 100 percent of that sentence, McCann said.
Pleading guilty but mentally ill will allow LeSure to receive mental health treatment in prison, Weis said.
According to prosecutors, in the early morning of June 13, 2009, LeSure poured gasoline on his sleeping cousin, Maurice Vaughn, and threw a match on him, lighting him on fire, at the home of his brother and sister-in-law, Kevin and Nakia LeSure, on Riva Ridge Drive on Montgomery's far west side, where he was living at the time.
The resulting blaze killed not only Vaughn but also LeSure's brother, Matthew LeSure; Kevin and Nakia escaped the fire by climbing out a second-story window. The couple survived the blaze, but Kevin LeSure suffered injuries that have left him wheelchair-bound.
"Theddias LeSure stated that he had done so in an attempt to cover up some of his prior wrongdoings," Weis said. "He further stated that he had intended on killing everyone in the residence but neighbors arrived too soon."
LeSure did not make a statement when given the opportunity by McCann. He quietly answered "yes" when asked if he understood the charges and the plea deal.
Weis said the sentence should help give the LeSure family some closure.
"These types of cases, where one family members kills or seriously injures another, are always extremely difficult from an emotional side," he said. "While nothing that was done here in court will change the events of those early morning hours on June 13, 2009, this plea of guilty and agreed sentence should help the victims and their families with closure to this horrific event."
Sister-in-law who escaped
blaze forgives LeSure
At Friday's sentencing, Nakia LeSure made a victim impact statement on behalf of the family.
LeSure thanked her "Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for sparing the lives" of she and her husband, and thanked the Montgomery Police Department, firefighters from the several fire protection districts that worked the fire that day, as well as the Kendall County court system and "the countless family and friends and co-workers for your support during those early morning hours, the days following, and over the past three years."
"I say to you today, we are not victims, but victors," Nakia LeSure said. "We continue to overcome the many obstacles we face each and every day. Although this incident currently has my husband in a wheelchair, it has not paralyzed us mentally or spiritually."
She added, "We continue to make adjustments in our lifestyle to accommodate my husband's wheelchair accessibility needs so that we may still enjoy the things in life that bring joy to our hearts. We may no longer have a house, but we do have a home. We may have lost all of our personal possessions, but we have clothes on our backs, shoes on our feet and more than enough food to eat. We may have lost two members of our household family, but we still have family members who continue to help and support us in creating our new norm."
LeSure said the fire "has not wavered our love for God, each other, our families."
In conclusion, LeSure said she forgave her brother-in-law for the crimes he committed.
"The old saying says, 'what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger,'" she said. "I thank God for making me stronger. I don't like the fact that you did what you did; I don't agree with what you did for whatever reasons you may have; and I truly don't understand what made you do the things that you did given that we opened our hearts to welcome you into our home."
"But, the fact remains that we cannot go into the past or change the events of that night. The word of God teaches us to forgive in order to be forgiven. And so, today, I forgive you, Theddias, and may God continue to have mercy upon you.
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