A Cook County jury on Friday found a Chicago man guilty of murdering the pregnant mother of his child, as well as his baby, who was delivered alive but only lived for days.
Corey Deering, 42, a youth football coach in Englewood, was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Stacey Jones, a Cook County probation officer who was eight months pregnant, and the death of the infant, known as Baby Boy Harrison.
The jury heard testimony throughout the week at the Leighton Criminal Court Building after attorneys delivered opening arguments on Tuesday.
In the months leading up to her death on Oct 13, 2020, Jones, 35, told family and friends that the father of her unborn child threatened her and told her he didn’t want more children, prosecutors argued. When Jones did not get an abortion, Deering hatched a plan to kill her and the child, they said during opening arguments.
“Stacey Jones did not live to see the birth of her baby,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Papa told jurors earlier this week. “Stacey was left there bleeding, dying on the front step of her home.”
Prosecutors accused Deering of shooting Jones three times in the back around midnight outside of her Jeffery Manor home, while Jones’ two sons, then 7 and 11, slept inside. They said he was driven to the home by Camelia Blackmond, another woman he was involved with who was also pregnant with his child.
Deering’s attorney, though, pointed the finger at the other woman, arguing she was a romantic rival of Jones. He argued that no physical evidence connected Deering to the crime scene.
Both Blackmond and Jones met Deering through the youth football program at Ogden Park in Englewood, where their sons played, prosecutors said. Jones’ uncle Bryant Jones sobbed through his testimony, telling the jury he introduced Jones to Deering after hearing about the football program and suggesting her boys get involved.
Deering is scheduled to appear in court again on July 20 for post-trial motions.
