Driver Sentenced In Joliet's Republic Avenue Homicide

JOLIET, IL — One of the drivers involved a deadly Joliet shootout involving two cars in the 200 block of Republic Avenue has worked out a plea bargain with the Will County State's Attorney's Office of James Glasgow. On Wednesday, 23-year-old Joliet resident Javontae Gray pleaded guilty to the felony crime of obstruction of justice.

Gray was sentenced to two years at the Illinois Department of Corrections and given credit for 476 days of time already served at the Will County Jail.

As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped Gray's more serious felony charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm. The deadly shootout happened shortly after noon on a Friday just up the street from the AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center. The shooting victim, 17-year-old Jeremiah Frazier, died from his multiple gunshot wounds two days later.

Gray was represented by Joliet private practice attorney Zac Pollack of the Pollack Law Group. Pollack said he was not certain whether Gray will need any time at the DOC to fulfill the sentence. Wednesday's sentencing went before Will County Circuit Judge Vincent Cornelius.

"I never had any indication he was a bad (person)," Pollack said of his client. "He's got a good family. Just wrong place, wrong time."

Pollack told Joliet Patch that his client, Gray, was the driver of a car proceeding along Republic Avenue when people inside his car and another oncoming car began shooting at one other.

The homicide victim, Frazier, had been a passenger inside Gray's car, Pollack said.

Joliet police also arrested two people from the other vehicle: Rasean Strokes and Jeremiah Gavin. In February, Stokes pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense while Gavin, the first-degree murder defendant, still awaits trial.

Pollack said it's his understanding that one of the shooters was a passenger inside his client's car and that Joliet police were never able to identify and locate that particular gunman.

"The shooter in his vehicle did not hit anyone," Pollack said, referring to Gray.

Pollack said he was pleased with the terms of the plea agreement, but he would have liked to have seen Gray's criminal case resolved much earlier.

It's been 16 months since the homicide on Joliet's west side. His client has remained in the Will County Jail the entire time.

"There were never any allegations that my guy fired a weapon," Pollack remarked Thursday. "I do think that he sat in (the jail) too long for what happened. I think it took a little long. Ultimately, they were not going to be able to prove that gun charge against him."

To read Joliet Patch's original coverage of the Republic Avenue homicide, go here.