This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Cleodious “J.R.” Schoffner Jr. sits in a visitor’s room at Lawrence Correctional Center, a small, cinderblock box with a guard posted outside the heavy metal door. His lanky, 6-foot frame is swallowed by baggy prison blues, and a faded lotus flower tattoo – inked by a fellow inmate – peeks from his shirt. Schoffner entered into custody in 1997 at the age of 20. Now 48, Schoffner has spent 28 years – more than half his life – behind bars. And unless the law changes, he will likely die here.
“They didn’t have to do what they did to me – put me in prison for the rest of my life and just throw me away like that,” he said in a December interview.
The Illinois Department of Corrections lists Schoffner as serving life sentences for two murder convictions. The truth is more complicated. In 1998, in the tiny southern Illinois town of Tamms, Schoffner was convicted as an accomplice to a robbery that left two dead and another seriously injured. Though Schoffner has maintained that he had no idea his cousin Glen would rob the store – let alone kill anyone – the state built its case on the theory that he helped plan and carry out the crime. A jury agreed.
It was undisputed that Schoffner didn’t physically kill anyone. He had no weapon, and Glen Schoffner confessed to the murders. Yet both were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder – J.R. Schoffner under the state’s broad “accountability theory” that holds accomplices such as lookouts and getaway drivers to the same standards as the gunman if a death occurs in the course of certain crimes, including armed robbery.
For nearly three decades, Schoffner has fought for a second chance. Lawmakers now agree that young offenders deserve one. With the passage of legislation in 2019 and 2023, Illinois banned life sentences without the possibility of parole for most youthful offenders under 21 at the age of their offenses. But these laws aren’t retroactive, and Schoffner and dozens like him sentenced as young adults over previous decades, weren’t included.
Cleodious “J.R.” Schoffner, 48, sits in a visitation cell at Lawrence Correctional Center Dec. 16, 2024 in Sumner, Illinois. (Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois)
At sentencing, Judge Stephen Spomer acknowledged the gravity of the crime but lamented Schoffner’s sentence. “To compare this defendant’s culpability with that of Glen Schoffner’s culpability is a tragedy in my mind,” Spomer said, according to court transcripts reviewed by the Saluki Local Reporting Lab, WSIU and Capitol News Illinois.
But the judge’s hands were tied by decades of tough-on-crime laws that had been sweeping the nation. Illinois, at the forefront of that movement, had enacted particularly harsh penalties against accomplices, abolished parole and established strict sentencing guidelines by the time Schoffner stood trial. In short, state law mandated Schoffner serve a life sentence.
For Schoffner, it felt like a death sentence.
“It wasn’t until they sentenced me, and they said ‘a life without the possibility of parole’ – that’s when they broke me,” he said, his voice wavering. “That’s when they just broke me. And I just laid my head on the table, and I remember my dad coming up there and telling me, ‘Lift your head up. You know we’re gonna keep fighting.’”
J.R. Schoffner (left to right) is pictured at age 15, age 7 as a 2nd grader at Meridian Elementary School, and (far right) with cousins at junior high graduation. (Provided family photos)
A tragedy in a sleepy town
In 1997, he was living in rural Pulaski, working odd jobs – at a lumber yard and for his dad’s landscaping business
On April 10, his cousin, Glen Schoffner, pulled up and asked him to go for a ride. J.R. recently told reporters that he had immediately felt something was off – Glen was driving erratically and appeared drunk. They argued, and J.R. asked to be dropped off, but instead, they continued to the D&M Quick Stop in Tamms, a store catering to guards from the new supermax prison next door.
The D&M Quick Stop where the 1997 robbery turned double murder took place seen December 20, 2024 in Tamms, Illinois. (Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois)
Inside, Glen pulled a gun and shot the store owner at close range. He then turned the gun on two customers – he executed one in the bathroom and wounded another, Norma Johnson, with a shot in the leg and stuffed her in the trunk of a car.
J.R. says he was terrified and had no choice but to comply, insisting he didn’t know about the robbery and that he played no role in the violence. But Johnson, the surviving victim, testified that while she couldn’t see her attackers at all times, she believed J.R. participated in her beating while Glen was in another part of the store, court records show.
With Johnson still in the trunk, Glen sped off. J.R. told reporters that he grabbed the steering wheel to make the car crash and save Johnson’s life. After the wreck, they fled on foot. A friend picked them up, and at his house, Glen changed clothes. That friend testified that he also gave J.R. a change of clothes, and police later said J.R. was arrested wearing an outfit that matched that description.
J.R. said he ran to his father’s house, and his father called the police to report what happened. They were shocked when J.R. was arrested and charged with murder. Glen was caught the next day after a high-speed chase that ended in a crash with a deputy.
A tough-on-crime era
Schoffner opted to go to trial – a risky decision.
Illinois abolished parole in 1978, becoming one of the first states to do so. In its place, lawmakers introduced determinate sentencing, ensuring inmates served a set portion of their terms. During this tough-on-crime era, the state also mandated life without parole or the death penalty for individuals convicted of multiple first-degree murders. Sentencing laws continued to grow even harsher. By the time Schoffner stood trial in 1998, truth-in-sentencing laws – bolstered by federal incentives under the Clinton administration – had further limited early release and extended prison terms.
As a result, prisons swelled throughout the 1980s and 1990s, disproportionately incarcerating young Black men like Schoffner. Overcrowding led to violence, poor medical care and costly lawsuits. By 2013, Illinois’ prison population peaked at nearly 50,000, straining taxpayer resources and pulling funding from schools and social services.
Lawrence Correctional Center, where Cleodious “J.R.” Schoffner is held Dec. 16, 2024 in Sumner, Illinois. (Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois)
Recent bipartisan efforts have tried to reverse some of these policies, and the prison population now sits at about 30,000, though the number remains higher than it was in the early 1980s. Black inmates still make up a disproportionate share. More than half of the state’s inmates are Black, while Black people make up less than 15% of the state’s population.
Today, Illinois remains one of 17 states without discretionary parole. Only two groups can seek it: those sentenced before parole was abolished in 1978 and youthful offenders sentenced after 2019.
Tamara Kang, an assistant professor of psychology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, says young offenders should be treated differently than adults in the justice system.
“Their planning, impulse control, and all of that is still in development until the age of 20,” Kang said. “The majority of people are adolescent-limited offenders, meaning they will age out of crime.”
Youth sentencing reform
A series of U.S. and Illinois Supreme Court rulings have reshaped juvenile justice over the last 20 years. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court banned juvenile death sentences. In 2012, it ruled that life without parole for juveniles required a case-by-case review considering the child’s history and potential for rehabilitation. The Illinois Supreme Court later decided that ruling applies retroactively, and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed it in 2016.
Illinois is one of 28 states that has banned juvenile life sentences without the possibility of parole. In just over half of these states, the law applies retroactively. Illinois is not one of them.
Sen. Rachel Ventura, a Democrat from Joliet, introduced a bill in the previous legislative session that would have made the ban on life without parole retroactive, but it failed. Republican Sen. Seth Lewis, of Bartlett, co-sponsored the measure. Though he declined an interview, a spokesperson said he “still agrees with the concept” but believes the bill’s language needs revisions. The spokesperson did not specify what changes he had in mind.
Not everyone supports expanding these reforms. Some lawmakers and crime victim advocates worry about who might be released and the potential risk to society. They also express concerns about forcing survivors to relive traumatic events. But Ventura says the bill simply gives people a chance to petition for release. Even when courts have ordered new sentencing hearings for juveniles, not all of the defendants have received reduced sentences. Some remain incarcerated.
“The truth of it is, petitioning the board is not the same thing as being released by the board. So, I think we have to keep that in mind,” Ventura said.
Lindsey Hammond, policy director for Restore Justice, which advocates for criminal justice reform, said she’s hopeful the bipartisan effort will get another chance this legislative session. In 2023, her organization estimated that about 80 people would become eligible for parole over a decade. The bill that failed would have allowed people serving life sentences to petition for parole after serving 40 years. A new measure, House Bill 3332, would allow individuals convicted of murder under the age of 21 to petition for parole after serving 20 or 30 years, depending on the circumstances of their case.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn from their mistakes,” Hammond said. “This is ultimately about redemption, and redemption is not a partisan issue. It is something that people from both sides of the aisle believe in. Grace and mercy – we grow and change as we get older, and none of us are the people we were when we were younger.”
Marsha Levick, chief legal officer of the Juvenile Law Center, a national nonprofit that advocates for youth rights in the justice system, said states should raise the age threshold for juvenile offenders – giving young people more consideration before they are treated as adults, and make these changes retroactively.
But Levick said one area demands immediate attention: young people convicted under felony murder or accomplice liability doctrines, like Schoffner.
“We are one of the only countries in the world that still convicts people under a felony murder or accomplice liability doctrine,” she said. “But yes, we do it, and pretty much every state does it. It is reviled by the criminal defense bar for both young people and adults. It’s just a ridiculous way of imposing liability that holds them accountable in the same way that you would hold the person accountable who was directly involved in the killing.”
Despite widespread criticism, Levick said the U.S. remains committed to the practice. “As a country, it’s been very hard to get rid of.”
Family members and friends of Schoffner pray for him before a hearing in Alexander County May 9, 2024. (Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois)
Natural life
Schoffner maintains his innocence and has spent the past 28 years behind bars studying the law, filing appeals and helping others fight their cases. He earned a two-year degree in paralegal studies and works in the prison law library. There, he estimates he has helped at least 15 inmates win their release.
“If J.R. was not right there with me at that point in time, I would still be in jail until 2027, because that was my out date,” said Justin Cavette, a former inmate serving time for gun crimes who Schoffner assisted.
The law library has become both an outlet and a lifeline. It also helps him hold onto hope. If he ever secures his freedom, he plans to continue helping others navigate the legal system as a paralegal.
The lotus flower tattoo on his chest has come to symbolize his time in prison.
“A lotus flower comes up every morning from the murky water, and it leaves no mud stains. And then in the evening, it goes back into the murky water. And I kind of liken that to myself,” Schoffner said. “Because every morning I wake up and I look at those walls and look at everything that I’m faced with, it’s like being in that murky water. And then when I go into my element, being in that law library and being able to help other people and help myself at the same time, then it’s like that mud is wiped off. And then I gotta go back into that mud in the evening time.”
J.R. Schoffner displays his lotus flower tattoo. (Julia Rendleman photo for Capitol News Illinois)
Schoffner’s appeals and clemency petition to the governor – all unsuccessful to date – argue that his trial was fundamentally flawed. He claims in court filings and clemency petitions that jurors fell asleep during testimony, that his natural life sentence violates the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois constitution, that his attorney failed to provide an adequate defense and that the court suppressed witness testimony that could prove his innocence. As part of a clemency petition, the friend recanted his prior testimony that he gave Schoffner a change of clothes. Glen, his cousin, also admitted to falsely implicating Schoffner under police pressure; in a sworn affidavit, he claimed he testified against J.R. because police had threatened him with the death penalty if he didn’t.
All the appeals have been unsuccessful.
Norma Johnson, the only survivor of the 1997 robbery, gave damning testimony at trial, telling jurors that Schoffner helped Glen with the robbery and beat her in the store. She died in 2010. Her daughter, Kim Noble would sign an affidavit in 2021 stating that her mother had spent years privately admitting her testimony was false – that she had been coerced into securing a conviction.
“As Glen went back to beat and stab my mother, Cleodious [J.R.] kept telling Glen to stop attacking her and made several attempts to stop Glen. She explained to the state that if it had not been for constant pleas from Cleodious telling Glen to ‘stop,’ Glen would have killed her in the store,” Noble wrote in the affidavit.
In 2020, Schoffner’s attorney delivered what seemed like good news: He believed Schoffner’s release was imminent. The optimism stemmed from a case involving Antonio House, who was sentenced to life without parole at age 19 for his role as an accomplice. A panel of the Chicago-based First District Appellate Court had ruled that House’s mandatory life sentence “shocks the moral sense of the community,” raising the possibility that similar cases – including Schoffner’s – could be reconsidered.
Schoffner’s mother, Dorothy, 68, prepared for his homecoming. Christmas was always his favorite holiday, so she decorated. She strung plastic holly across the mantel, placed two small evergreens on either side of the hearth, and set up a full-sized tree by the front door – the first thing he would see when he walked in.
Dorothy Schoffner, 68, mends clothes for money in her home, Dec. 20, 2024 in Pulaski, Illinois. She keeps Christmas decorations up all year in the hopes that her son Cleodious “J.R.” Schoffner will see them upon his release from prison. (Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois)
Cleodious Schoffner Sr., 70, and Dorothy Schoffner, 68, stand in front of their home in Pulaski in December, 2024. Their son Cleodious “J.R.” Schoffner, at 20, was sentenced to natural life in prison as an accomplice to a 1997 robbery that left two people dead in nearby Tamms, Illinois. The Schoffners and their extended family maintain a close support network for J.R. and his efforts to receive clemency for a crime he says he did not commit. (Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois)
In 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned parts of the appellate court’s ruling and sent House’s case to the trial court, finding that the lower court had improperly ruled on his sentencing challenge without fully developing an evidentiary record of how his age related to his crime. House has since been released.
Schoffner argued that the higher courts’ decisions should have set a precedent for his case. The judge had previously noted that Schoffner’s case was on point with House’s and had delayed ruling on one of his appeals until the House decision was finalized. However, after that ruling, the judge ultimately denied Schoffner’s petition on a technicality, citing an untimely filing.
More than four years later, the decorations remain. Dorothy refuses to take them down. Someday, she says, her son will come home. She will be ready.
Ethan Holder, a recent Southern Illinois University graduate, reported this story for WSIU and the Saluki Local Reporting Lab. Julia Rendleman and Molly Parker reported for the Saluki Lab and Capitol News Illinois. The Lab’s reporting work in Alexander County is financially supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
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