Janet Strickland | Cook County Sheriff's Dept.
A 67-year-old woman was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday for urging her grandson to kill his namesake grandfather, William Strickland, outside their Far South Side home in 2013.Janet Strickland encouraged 23-year-old William Strickland to shoot her husband of nearly 30 years six times in the back on March 2, 2013, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Prosecutors said she was tired of her husband’s unwillingness to spend money and wanted “nice things."
The 72-year-old man had just walked out of their home in the 400 block of East 95th Street to grab a bus to his weekly dialysis treatment when he was shot, prosecutors said.
William Strickland | Chicago Police
Janet Strickland persuaded her grandson to pull the trigger so they could spend the elderly man’s money, prosecutors said. William Strickland later used money from his grandfather’s wallet to buy a new phone, gym shoes and tattoos.
Lesley Strickland, the daughter of the elder William Strickland, testified that she rushed from her home in Milwaukee when she got the news.
She said she was greeted by her drunk stepmother, who started giving away furniture and discussing how she would redecorate while treating family and friends to pizza, tacos and White Castle.
The next day, Janet Strickland went to Rent-A-Center and came back with a 60-inch television and TV stand with a built-in fireplace and refrigerator, Lesley Strickland said.
“There was no remorse, no crying,” she said.
William Strickland | photo provided
She said her stepmother was still partying even after the younger William Strickland was jailed for his grandfather’s murder in late March that year.
When Lesley Strickland told Janet Strickland detectives may soon start questioning her, she said she “doesn’t have anything to hide” and spent the day at a casino in Milwaukee.
A few days later, on April 4, 2013, Lesley Strickland visited her son at Cook County Jail and asked, “Why? … What happened?”
“He put his head down,” Lesley Strickland said. “Eventually, he looked up and told me [Janet Strickland] had it done.”
Janet Strickland had given the younger William Strickland a car to ensure he’d “keep his mouth closed” about what had happened, Lesley Strickland said.
Janet Strickland was convicted in April of numerous charges, including murder and solicitation of murder, Cook County Circuit Court records show. A judge handed down the 18-year sentence Wednesday.
The younger William Strickland, who lived with his grandparents, used his grandfather’s own gun in the killing, prosecutors said. He was convicted of murder in February and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
--Chicago Sun-Times Wire and Chicago Sun-Times