A 24-year-old Chicago man accused of murdering a taxi cab driver in Evanston almost five years ago pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder in court.

Darien Marquez-Connerly, 24, was sentenced to 35 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections during his sentencing hearing in Cook County’s Skokie Courthouse, according to an Evanston Police Department news release.

Marquez-Connerly, who was 19 at the time of the incident, shot cab driver Leodis Blackburn on May 15, 2011 during an attempted armed robbery. Blackburn died days after the shooting. EPD and North Regional Major Crimes Task Force arrested Marquez-Connerly in connection with the murder on May 22, 2011.

Marquez-Connerly was being held without bail in Cook County Jail until his trial.

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