A Tennessee man who chose to represent himself in McLean County court has been sentenced to decades in prison for a September 2023 armed robbery in Bloomington.
Assistant State's Attorney Spencer Chikahisa called the results of Marcus Folks' two-and-a-half year legal process a "self-inflicted wound" during a scheduled one-hour sentencing hearing Friday that stretched past three hours.
Folks had requested, then fired, his public defender three times while litigating charges related to robbing a Bloomington McDonald's drive-through at gunpoint, then leading police on a high-speed chase through Bloomington, onto Interstate 55 and ending in a bean field outside Carlock.
In letters to WGLT, Folks said he was being "railroaded" by his public defender, who he said wasn't working in his best interest.
In a lengthy statement to Judge Jason Chambers on Friday afternoon as part Folks' motion for a new trial, he said several of his constitutional rights were violated during the two-day bench trial he chose not to attend.
Chambers pushed back on Folks' declaration that he'd been denied requests for continuances, saying "this whole case has been largely a continuance."
Chambers said he didn't like how the case played out. Folks has a right to a public defender, he said. He has a right to attend his trial. But he waived those rights.
"You left and refused to be here," Chambers said. "I'm not going to have deputies hold you down in a chair while we do trial."
After denying Folks' motion for a new trial, Chambers sentenced Folks to 35 years in prison for aggravated robbery, plus 3 years for fleeing police.
Folks, 43, apologized for "what all went on," and inconveniencing the court, saying he'd "learned his lesson." He admitted to having a criminal history involving theft and writing bad checks, but said that he'd never been violent. This was his first offense in McLean County.
Chambers cited Folks' disposal of a loaded gun on the side of the road as an aggravating factor in sentencing him. The mandatory sentencing for armed robbery is 21-45 years. He sentenced Folks to the maximum 3-year sentence for fleeing police, saying it was "the most egregious fleeing and eluding I've seen."
Chambers said Folks has several outstanding charges in other jurisdictions and has a pattern of avoiding accountability, including more than a dozen rule violations during his time in McLean County jail.
But he said he was also weighing Folks' demeanor in court, the cost of incarceration and his family, which includes 6 children and 3 grandchildren.
"I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt," Chambers said. "You have charisma and likeability... but then you can't conform to the rules you're supposed to be following."
Folks must serve at least half of the two concurrent sentences and pay $7,058.21 in restitution for damage caused to the Illinois State Police squad car that chased him into the bean field.
Folks will get credit for the 908 days he spent in McLean County jail.
