Homeless Man Convicted in Killing Off-Duty Chicago Officer Gets 65-Year Sentence

Jovan Battle (Chicago Police Department)Jovan Battle (Chicago Police Department)

A homeless man who was convicted for his role in a case of mistaken identity that led to the fatal shooting of an off-duty Chicago police officer in 2019 has been sentenced to 65 years in prison.

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Jovan Battle, 34, asked for forgiveness and apologized to the family of 23-year-old Officer John Rivera, who was shot and killed inside his car following a night out with friends in the River North area in March 2019, before he was sentenced Tuesday afternoon.

“I just want to say to the family that I’m sorry,” Battle said.

Judge Michael Clancy sentenced Battle to 50 years in prison following his conviction on a first-degree murder charge. That will be served consecutively with a 10-year sentence issued on an aggravated battery with a firearm charge, and a 5-year sentence on aggravated discharge of firearm charges.

Co-defendants Jaquan Washington and the alleged gunman Menelick Jackson are also charged, but have not yet gone to trial.

Battle didn’t fire the shots that killed Rivera and injured another man, but Cook County prosecutors said he was the “catalyst” that led to the shooting.

Washington and Jackson were allegedly seeking to shoot a group of Hispanic men they’d fought with earlier outside the Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonald’s in the early morning hours of March 23, 2019. Battle, who happened to be staying in the doorway of a nearby hotel, wanted to assist the two men because he believed they were fellow members of the Gangster Disciples gang.

Chicago Police Officer John Rivera (Chicago Police Department)Chicago Police Officer John Rivera (Chicago Police Department)

Rivera, his girlfriend Sara Garcia and two other friends, Jack Hightower and Ruben Sierra — none of whom were involved in that earlier incident — had just left a nearby bar and entered Rivera’s parked car at the corner of Huron and Clark streets.

Battle directed Jackson toward Rivera’s car, believing it belonged to the Hispanic men from the McDonald’s fight. Prosecutors at trial claimed surveillance footage showed Jackson walk to the driver’s side door and open fire on the occupants inside.

Rivera was shot multiple times as he leaned over to protect Garcia inside the car. Sierra was also struck, but survived and still has a bullet lodged in his neck.

Battle, who represented himself at trial, was convicted in August 2019. He since hired a defense attorney, who on Tuesday said his client in 2019 was a “drunk, high, mentally ill, shattered human being living on the street in Chicago” who in an “impulsive moment” got swept up in Jackson and Washington’s “vortex of violence.”

But prosecutors asked that Battle be given a sentence that “holds (him) accountable” and reflects his “utter lack of remorse, his complete disregard for public safety and for human life.”

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson[email protected] | (773) 509-5431


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