Drug delivery case sends man to prison for 9 years

[July 26, 2016]  On June 29, 2016, Associate Judge William Workman sentenced Sherman Willis to 9 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections with a period of 1 year of mandatory supervised release (formerly known as parole) for three counts of Unlawful Delivery of Controlled Substance, each a class 3 felony.

The case arose out of a 2015 investigation conducted by Illinois State Police and the Lincoln Police Department. Working with a confidential source, law enforcement conducted three controlled purchases involving Sherman Willis. Each transaction resulted in the delivery of less than 1 gram of heroin from Sherman Willis to the confidential source. On March 9, 2016,
Sherman Willis pleaded guilty to all three counts and the case was set for a sentencing hearing on June 29, 2016.

A class 3 felony offense normally carries with it a sentencing range from up to 30 months of probation to a maximum of 5 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Based on Sherman Willis's prior conviction for Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance in 2007, the Logan County State's Attorneys' Office alleged that Sherman Willis was eligible for an extended term sentence of up to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. In this case, the Court followed the State's recommendation and sentenced Sherman Willis to 9 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

[Logan County State's Attorney Jonathan Wright]