Kevin Collins made headlines just before Christmas 2017. It wasn’t for something good.
His 5-year-old son shot himself with an illegal firearm in their home. One year earlier, the boy was shot in the face during a drive-by, WGN reported at the time.
Collins received a two-year prison sentence for possessing a defaced firearm after the boy found the gun in a bedroom closet and shot himself in the hand, according to prosecutors.
Last February, police arrested Collins again after finding his girlfriend on the couch of a River North hotel room with a stab wound to her chest, lacerations on her hand, and head trauma, according to prosecutors and police records. The woman is also the mother of his child, prosecutors said.
She allegedly told police she remembered Collins punching her in the head during an argument and recalled seeing blood coming from her chest and realizing he had stabbed her before she lost consciousness.
Collins had been arrested six other times for domestic violence, including five times for incidents involving the woman he allegedly stabbed, Assistant State’s Attorney Franka D’Antignac said last year. None of the cases resulted in conviction because the victims either refused to sign complaints or failed to appear in court, she said.
The deck appeared to be stacked against him after the hotel incident, though. Prosecutors charged him with attempted murder.
After hearing the allegations during Collins’ bail hearing last year, Judge John Lyke said he “poses a real and present threat to this victim and any female he comes in contact with as well as this community.”
But Collins has struck a deal with prosecutors. They dropped the attempted murder charge and two aggravated battery charges, court records show. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated domestic battery and received a three-year sentence.
Judge Maria Kuriakos-Cecil handed down the sentence and gave Collins credit for 342 days he spent in jail before she sentenced him. He’ll be released in August of next year.
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