A McDonough County jury found a Macomb man guilty but mentally ill in the murder of his cellmate in the county jail.
The verdict against Timothy Smith, 41, was announced Wednesday afternoon following a three-day jury trial.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-October. He faces 20 to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Prosecutors say Smith got into an altercation with Darrell Hocker, 51, of Macomb in their locked cell at the McDonough County jail during the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 2023.
Hocker was struck repeatedly in the head, neck, and chest during the altercation. He was taken to McDonough District Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Smith and Hocker were both in jail on domestic battery charges.
Smith was also tried in Hocker’s death in June 2025, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
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