MARION COUNTY, IL — A 46-year-old Chicago man was sentenced Monday in Marion County Court to life in prison for the 2018 murder of a Centralia woman in her home.

A Marion County jury found Lorenzo Patton guilty in September of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Precious Jones.

Judge Allan Lolie denied a defense request Monday for a new trial before hearing victims’ impact statements and aggravating factors in the case from Assistant State’s Attorney Melissa Doran.

According to court records, Patton shot Jones twice – once in the back and once in the chest.

She was found dead in the early morning hours of September 22, 2018, by a person entering her home in the 400 block of Anderson Street in Centralia.

Multiple former inmates testified in the two-day trial. Charita Lenox claimed that while she was held with Patton in the Coles County Jail, he admitted to her that he had killed Jones.