A judge in Champaign County has sentenced a 29-year-old Rantoul man convicted of fatally shooting another man to almost six decades in prison.
Reports indicate Judge John Kennedy handed out the 58-year sentenced Monday in the case of Steven Monroe.
Monroe was convicted in the January 2011 killing of Marcus Brown, who was shot once in the back of the head in his home east of Rantoul. Champaign County sheriff's investigators say Brown had been robbed of a video game, a laptop computer and a small amount of marijuana.
In court Monday, Monroe said he's innocent of killing Brown. His defense attorney argued for a more lenient sentence, calling Monroe "a nice, sweet person."