URBANA, Ill. — A Champaign County judge on Monday, November 9, sentenced Charles Lake, 20, to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the January shooting death of 52-year-old Benancio Crowley of Champaign — the only homicide recorded in Urbana this year. Lake had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, a plea that led to the dismissal of the rest of his charges, which had ranged from first-degree murder to aggravated battery with a discharged firearm. He has been in custody since the day of the shooting and will receive credit for the 308 days he has already served.

Source: WCIA, Nov. 10, 2026

At Monday's sentencing hearing, the court heard victim impact statements before Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz told WCIA that prosecutors had recommended the maximum sentence of 20 years. Judge Rosenbaum imposed 10 years instead — half the term the prosecution sought. The sentence closes the court case that began with a not-guilty plea and a jury-trial demand in January, before Lake changed his plea to guilty on the second-degree murder count.

Source: Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz via WCIA

10 yearsprison sentence imposed on Charles Lake, 20, on Nov. 9
20 yearsmaximum sentence prosecutors recommended, State's Attorney Julia Rietz said
308 dayscredit Lake receives for time already served in custody
52age of victim Benancio Crowley of Champaign

The January 16 shooting on Ellis Drive

In the early hours of January 16, 2026, officers with the Urbana Police Department responded to the 1200 block of Ellis Drive, at about 1:45 a.m., for a report of a shooting with injuries. On the scene, they found a man with a gunshot wound. He was taken to Carle Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:56 a.m. The Champaign County Coroner's Office, under Coroner Laurie Brauer, identified him as Benancio Crowley, 52, of Champaign, and an autopsy was scheduled as the Urbana Police Department and the Coroner's Office investigated the death.

Source: Urbana Police Department and Champaign County Coroner's Office via WCIA

Lake, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, was arrested later the same day, at about 2:12 p.m., in the 1900 block of Blackthorn Drive in Champaign. The Champaign Police Department's SWAT team assisted in the arrest. Urbana police said at the time that the investigation was ongoing and reminded the public that all subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty — the standard that applied until Lake's guilty plea replaced the presumption with a conviction on the second-degree murder count.

Source: Urbana Police Department via WCIA

From not-guilty plea to guilty plea

At his arraignment in January, Lake pleaded not guilty and requested a trial by jury. Court records showed charges including first-degree murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated battery, and the State filed a petition to keep him detained before trial. At a detention hearing on Wednesday, January 21, he was ordered detained ahead of trial, with a pretrial conference set for February 11. In total, WCIA reported, he had been charged with six counts beyond the murder plea — counts ranging from first-degree murder to aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm — and those counts were dismissed as a result of his guilty plea to second-degree murder.

Source: WCIA, court-record reporting, January 2026

Second-degree murder in Illinois

Illinois law treats second-degree murder as a killing that would be first-degree murder but for a mitigating factor the law recognises — most commonly an unreasonable belief that the force used was justified, or a serious provocation. It carries a lower sentencing range than first-degree murder, which is why the prosecution's recommendation in this case topped out at 20 years and why the guilty plea mattered: by pleading to the mitigated offence, Lake avoided trial on the first-degree counts that were dismissed.

What the sentence means

Lake will serve his term in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with the 308 days he has spent detained since his January arrest credited against the 10 years. WCIA described the case as Urbana's only homicide of the year, a measure of how unusual a fatal shooting remains in the twin-city Champaign-Urbana community, home to the University of Illinois. No further hearings in the case were announced in Monday's reporting; with the guilty plea and sentence, the criminal case arising from the Ellis Drive shooting is concluded, subject to any appeal Lake may file.

Source: WCIA, Nov. 10, 2026