Man convicted of manslaughter now facing drug charges
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com September 13, 2012 12:56PM
Updated: September 13, 2012 10:42PM
AURORA — An Aurora man who served four years in prison for a 2001 fatal shooting is now facing felony drug charges.
Clifford McKinney, 32, 300 block of Century Lane, Aurora, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance when he was arrested at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 1200 block of South Fourth Street, police said.
The arrest was far from McKinney’s first brush with the law.
In 2001, McKinney was charged with murder in the death of 17-year-old Auroran Josua Valenciano. Valenciano, who worked at a music store, was driving in downtown Aurora when someone apparently mistook him for a rival gang member and shot him in the back of the head.
Valenciano’s car, still filled with co-workers, rolled from New York Street, back down a hill until it hit a car sitting at the light on River Street. McKinney pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting and served more than four years in prison.
While awaiting trial, McKinney was one of four people who savagely beat another inmate, hiding the victim from the Kane County jail staff for two days while they made him drink urine and eat his own vomit, according to court documents.
In 2006, McKinney pleaded guilty to felony possession of a controlled substance — and despite two previous prison terms, was given probation. A few months later, he was charged with distribution of a lookalike substance. He then served a three-year sentence for a probation violation.
