A Cook County judge has found a 24-year-old woman not guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting death of a 16-year-old Whiting, Indiana, girl inside a South Holland hotel room, ruling that the case amounted to self-defense against a violent break-in. Kennisha Laing was acquitted following a one-day bench trial, bringing an end to more than three years of court proceedings and monitoring that began with her arrest.
The case dates to the early morning of March 13, 2023, when Daysha Cazley was shot and killed inside a room at the Holland Inn & Suites in South Holland, according to the Chicago Tribune. Police had responded to the hotel that day, per a report relayed via the National Gun Violence Memorial. Cazley, a junior at Hammond Central High School who lived across the state line in Whiting, Indiana, was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Laing had attempted to kick Cazley out of her hotel room after the two got into a fight, then locked both Cazley and a friend out. The Tribune's reporting states that Cazley and her friend beat on the door for several minutes and tried to get a key from the hotel clerk before Cazley texted the friend to come pick her up — then asked that same friend to bring her a gun instead. Cazley and her friend had agreed to rob and beat up Laing, the paper reports, and ultimately broke the room's window to force their way back inside.
How the Shooting Unfolded
Laing fired one shot, which struck and killed Cazley, according to the Tribune. The shooting involved a firearm.
Public defender Samuel Goldberg, who represented Laing, said the shooting was an obvious case of self-defense and that the facts of the case were never really in dispute. He told the Tribune the sequence of events was established at trial through testimony from Cazley's friend and text messages exchanged between the two girls that night. Goldberg described the case as an example of considering the totality of the circumstances, and said flatly that it never should have been charged in the first place.
The Legal Standard That Decided the Case
Illinois law gave Laing two overlapping legal shields. Under Section 7-2 of the Illinois Criminal Code, a person is justified in using force likely to cause death or great bodily harm when an unlawful entry into a dwelling is attempted in a violent or tumultuous manner, or to prevent a felony inside. Separately, Illinois self-defense law requires a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.
Cook County Circuit Judge Tiana Blakely, who was elected to the bench in 2018, issued the not guilty verdict. The case was heard in Cook County Circuit Court. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment, according to the Tribune.
Three Years of Monitoring Come to an End
Laing, who was 21 at the time of her arrest, spent the first year of her case incarcerated before being released on electronic monitoring for the following two years. Court records show she had no violations and no new arrests during that stretch. During that time, Goldberg said, Laing completed an apprenticeship in house painting and began a full-time job.
With the acquittal now final, Laing was allowed to go home and stop electronic monitoring altogether. Goldberg said she can now move freely and continue working without restriction.
A Death Among Hundreds in Cook County
South Holland recorded three homicides in 2023, including Cazley's death, according to the Daily Southtown. Countywide, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office investigated 828 homicides that year, 729 of them involving firearms, and 92 of the victims were minors under 18 — a reminder of how often gun violence in the region has claimed young lives.
