This article was published in the Chicago Tribune's Daily Southtown. Read it on their website here.
By Evy Lewis
A 24-year-old woman was found not guilty Tuesday in the 2023 shooting death of a Whiting teenager in South Holland after her lawyer successfully argued that she acted in self-defense.
Kennisha Laing was arrested and charged with murder after 16-year-old Daysha Cazley, of Whiting, Indiana, was shot and killed at the Holland Inn and Suites in South Holland March 13, 2023.
“As I said the second I saw this case, it never should have been charged,” said public defender Samuel Goldberg, who defended Laing. “It’s a terrible tragedy that this 16-year-old girl was killed, but it is just such an obvious case of self-defense.”
The not guilty verdict was issued by Cook County Judge Tiana Blakely following a one-day bench trial, according to court records. The reason the trial was so brief was the facts of the case were not in dispute, Goldberg said.
Laing and Cazley got into a fight, and Laing attempted to kick Cazley out of her hotel room, Goldberg said. Cazley texted a friend to pick her up, Goldberg said, and asked her to bring her gun.
“They agreed they were going to rob and beat up Kennisha when they got there,” Goldberg said.
Laing locked both girls out, Goldberg said. After beating on the door for several minutes and attempting to acquire a key from the hotel clerk, the two girls broke the window to get into the room, he said.
“As soon as the window breaks, Kennisha fires one shot, and, tragically, that one shot ended up hitting and killing Daysha,” Goldberg said.
The sequence of events was established at trial using testimony from Cazley’s friend and texts between the two, he said.
“It’s a classic example of, you can’t just look at a case based on what the charge is, you have to look at the totality of the case,” Goldberg said.
Laing spent the first year of her case incarcerated before being released on electronic monitoring for the subsequent two years, Goldberg said. During that time, Goldberg said, she had no new arrests and no violations, and completed an apprenticeship in house painting before beginning a full-time job.
“It’s just such a relief that she gets to go home, she gets to be off EM, she gets to have freedom of movement and not be jailed in her own home, and can continue to work and start to live her life,” Goldberg said.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.