JEFFERSON COUNTY — After only two hours of deliberation Thursday, a Jefferson county jury found a 31-year-old Woodlawn man guilty of the 2021 murder of Jamarco Foulks at a Mt. Vernon bar.

Multiple video clips were projected onto a big screen in the courtroom and State’s Attorney Sean Featherstun walked jurors through the progression of events that led to Foulks’ death. Video of the victim was included in the evidence prosecutors introduced in the four-day case against Jaquez Gardner. After the jury returned their guilty verdict Thursday night, Judge Jerry Crisel scheduled a January 26, 2023, sentencing hearing.

Gardner was remanded back to the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections to continue serving a 16-year prison sentence previously handed down in a 2012 Jefferson County case charging him with armed violence.

He was on parole in that case when he shot Foulks at the Corner Tavern in July of last year. Gardner fled the area after the shooting and was later indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury. He was ultimately located and arrested at a Metro East motel.