Morris Murder Trial Underway At Grundy Courthouse

MORRIS, IL — Grundy County prosecutors are trying to convince a jury this week to convict 32-year-old Joliet resident Kasim Baker of first-degree murder in the March 2019 stabbing of Morris apartment complex resident Daniel Smiley, 65.

Grundy County radio station WCSJ News has been covering the daily trial proceedings all week at the Grundy Courthouse in downtown Morris. The radio station reported that Smiley was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife at his apartment building on Twilight Drive on March 8, 2019.

WCSJ News reported that the murder defendant knew the victim through a mutual acquaintance and that one of this week's trial witnesses revealed that Baker planned to rob Smiley. According to WCSJ, current Will County Jail inmate Alex Perez testified that he drove Baker to the Morris man's apartment at the time of the crime.

Baker was arrested by the Morris Police Department about two weeks after Smiley's deadly stabbing. Joliet Patch reported at the time that Baker, then 31, was a well-known individual to the Joliet Police Department because of multiple previous arrests. Smiley lived at the Canterbury Woods apartments in Morris. Baker's last known address was in Joliet.