Streator shooter’s prison time cut from 29 years to 21

Courtney Perkins fired a gun during a 2022 Streator drug bust but missed an undercover drug agent. He’s still guilty of felony offenses and will stay in prison.

But an appeals court spotted errors at sentencing and ordered Perkins returned to La Salle County Circuit Court for new proceedings. On Friday, Perkins got eight years shaved off his original 29-year sentence.

Perkins declined to make an open-court statement before his resentencing.

He was charged after a drug sting Sept. 29, 2022, at a Streator car wash. There, Perkins had prearranged the sale of 20 ecstasy pills for $350. A courier arrived at the scene, made the transfer and was placed into custody.

Then, a shot was fired. Perkins admitted that he squeezed the trigger but said it was only to protect the courier, thinking the plainclothes agent was a robber. A jury acquitted Perkins of attempted murder but convicted him of additional counts.

Perkins was sentenced to 21 years for armed violence, five years for aggravated discharge of a firearm and three years for unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, all to be served back to back.

An appeals court spotted two problems. First, Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. thought the terms had to be served back to back. Not so. Consecutive terms weren’t mandatory but were discretionary.

Second, Perkins shouldn’t have been convicted for armed violence and delivery of a controlled substance. It should have been one or the other, the court ruled, not both.

On Friday, Ryan fixed the errors and gave Perkins 21 years for armed violence and five years for aggravated discharge of a firearm, sentences to be served concurrently. His new parole date has yet to be computed.