An 18-year-old St. Peter man has pleaded guilty in Fayette County Court to lesser charges in connection with the January 20th, 2024 shooting death of a 14-year-old Dakota Branch of Salem.
Kaden Phillips received a total of 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to a Class 1 felony count of aggravated discharge of a firearm and a Class 3 felony of involuntary manslaughter. He had originally been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Illinois State Police say Branch was shot at a home in the 700 block of North 2200 Street in St. Peter. Phillips was 17 at the time of the shooting but was charged as an adult. He has remained in custody since his arrest, first in a juvenile facility and later at the Fayette County Jail.
Branch was pronounced dead at the scene by the Fayette County Coroner.
A 12-year prison term was handed down for aggravated discharge of a firearm, with the five-year term for involuntary manslaughter to run concurrently. He will have to serve 85 percent of the aggravated discharge of a firearm and 50 percent on the involuntary manslaughter charge. He’ll have to complete one year of mandatory supervised release once he is out of prison.
Branch was an 8th-grade student at Franklin Park Middle School in Salem when the shooting occurred.
