Murder Dropped for Guilty Plead to Armed Robbery and Aggravated Battery with a Firearm that occurred on March 16, 2010
After being arrested with a prostitution charge days before in Schaumburg, Branch Kristian Branch and her boyfriend Mario Charles targeted another prostitute for robbery, who was known to be receiving monthly inheritance payments.
When Mario Charles tried to overtake people at gunpoint to commit a robbery with Kristian Branch in a third-floor room at the Homestead Studio Suites Extended Stay Hotel, 51 East State Parkway, one of the people in the room drew a .45-caliber handgun and shot Mario Charles in the chest and abdomen. Mario Charles and Kristian Branch fled, but Charles collapsed outside and died later at a hospital.
Joshua Sims, 27, of Minneapolis, was hit in the chest and hip during the exchange of gunfire, and is still undergoing medical treatment.
Initially charged with first degree murder for her involvement in the robbery scheme which led to the death of Mario Charles, Branch’s murder charge was dropped and exchanged to armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm with the guilty plea.
Kristian Branch, 29, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with a requirement to serve 855 of her sentence.
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