MT. VERNON, IL — A defense motion to have a special prosecutor appointed in a 2021 Jefferson County murder case is scheduled to be heard in court Thursday. The defense attorney for Jacquez Gardner, of Mt. Vernon, also requested last week to withdraw from the case but Judge Jerry Crisel denied that motion.

Gardner is accused of the shooting death of 34-year-old Jamarco Foulks, also of Mt. Vernon. Foulks was shot multiple times at the Corner Tavern on 19th and Perkins in Mt. Vernon. Gardner is charged with three counts first-degree murder in that case, as well as Class X felony being an armed habitual criminal. He was on parole at the time of his arrest in the Metro East a few days after Foulks’ shooting death in Mt. Vernon. Gardner was on parole at the time of his arrest on a 16-year sentence stemming from the January 2012 shooting near Mount Vernon’s Casey Middle School. No one was injured.

Prosecutors in Jefferson County have indicated in court that they will be seeking consecutive sentencing in the case.