Will County Gazette

JOLIET— Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced that Justin Regular, 23, of University Park, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for first-degree murder in the 2020 shooting death of Chikiris Murphy. Regular pled guilty on March 11, 2024, and was sentenced on April 3, 2024, by Circuit Judge Sarah Jones.

On January 6, 2020, Chikiris Murphy, also 23, was shopping at Mike’s Food Mart located at 541 University Park with his sister’s boyfriend when Regular aggressively confronted him inside the store. Following the exchange, Murphy proceeded to purchase his items and exited the store where Regular was outside lying in wait. After confronting Murphy again, Regular pulled a handgun from his jacket pocket and shot Murphy multiple times as he continued to walk towards him. Multiple eyewitnesses identified Regular as the shooter. Murphy was taken to Franciscan St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields where he was pronounced dead.

“Justin Regular snuffed out the life of a young man in his prime through this senseless and tragic act of gun violence,” Glasgow said. “The sanctity of human life is the cornerstone of our civilized society. Regular will have three decades behind bars to reflect on his calculated, cold-blooded murder. Sadly nothing can ever replace this life lost forever as a result of Regular’s heinous act of violence.”

The sentence will be served at 100 percent. Regular will also serve three years mandatory supervised release and receive credit for time served in jail amounting to 1,520 days.

Glasgow thanked Assistant State’s Attorneys Deborah Mills, Marie Griffin, and Britt Florin; Victim Witness Advocates Emma Rannells and Jessica Gil; University Park Investigator Charles Wynn; the University Park Police Department; and the Major Crimes Task Force for their outstanding work and commitment in this matter.