Two men were found guilty of triple murder in Springfield in 2021

Two defendants charged in a 2021 triple murder in Springfield's Harvard Park neighborhood were found guilty on all counts Wednesday, ending an eight-day trial in Sangamon County court.

Kelton Galmore of Jacksonville and Larry McClain Jr. of Springfield both face life in prison. Sentencing will take place on December 9th before Presiding District Judge Ryan Cadagin.

Savante English, 27, and Keyera Gant, 25, of Springfield, and Bryant K. Williams, 27, of Houston and formerly of Springfield, were all shot multiple times at a home English was renting in the 2500 block of South 10th Street. They were found on August 9, 2021.

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Galmore and McClain stood trial for two types of murders: responsibility for all three victims and responsibility only for the victims they shot individually.

Galmore was accused of shooting Williams and McClain was accused of shooting English. Both were accused of shooting Gant. The three victims were found in different rooms of the house.

Galmore and McClain were also found guilty of armed violence and armed robbery.

The jury of seven and five took just over two hours to reach the verdict.

A third defendant, Joseph Hembrough of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty Sept. 9 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release by the Illinois Department of Corrections. He testified against Galmore and McClain on Friday.

“The evidence showed that this was a joint venture,” special prosecutor Derek Dion said in his closing statement.

English and Williams, a budding Houston-area rapper who went by the name BK Yola, were childhood friends in Springfield. Williams was scheduled to return to Texas on the day of the murder.

Williams had returned to Springfield to attend a celebration of life marking the one-year anniversary of the death of De'Arius Equan Jones of Springfield.

A number of people, including McClain, had attended an after-party at the 10th Street house following the celebration of life. At trial, the connection was made that Williams knew McClain.

On the way to the 10th Street house late on August 8, Hembrough and Galmore picked up McClain in Springfield. Hembrough said he didn't know McClain at the time.

McClain, Galmore and Hembrough walked in the front door around 1 a.m. on August 9th. It was an Englishman, Hembrough said, who brought out bags of methamphetamine and scales to complete the sale.

When Williams showed up, he began yelling at McClain for showing up unannounced and bringing other people with him, Hembrough testified.

Galmore produced a Glock 34 that had a switch to enable automatic fire, Hembrough said. Williams tried to knock the gun out of Galmore's hand before he was shot multiple times, Hembrough said in his testimony.

McClain then shot English in the kitchen, Hembrough testified. Both Galmore and McClain shot Gant.

Attorneys for Galmore and McClain did not call any witnesses after prosecutors dropped their case Tuesday. None of the defendants took the stand.

Sangamon County Prosecutor John Milhiser praised the law enforcement and legal teams for putting together a case to hold McClain and Galmore accountable.

Several family members of the victims wept openly after Cadagin read the verdict.

“I can imagine what their families are going through,” Milhiser said afterwards. “They had to witness not only this event, but also the justice that was meted out to them and then the graphic details and descriptions of what happened to them.”

Both attorneys in the case – Monroe McWard for Galmore and Mark Wykoff for McClain – continued to poke holes in Hembrough's statements and testimony, calling him “an opportunist” and “a liar.”

“With Hembrough's testimony, we expected a different result,” McWard said outside court. “But the jury heard the evidence and made a decision.”

In his closing remarks, Dion said the jury “shouldn't trust Hembrough” but that the evidence – surveillance videos, phone logs and GPS data – would prove Galmore and McClain guilty.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; [email protected]; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

Two men were found guilty of triple murder in Springfield in 2021

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