Nicholas Sheley Murder Case - IL Governor Abolishes The Death Penalty



Nicholas T. Sheley at Pontiac Correctional Center 2011

 It has been quite some time since I have written about the capital murder case of Nicholas Sheley who is accused of killing Ronald Randall, 65, in Galesburg, IL on  June 28, 2008. I sure didn't plan to get so far behind, but Mr. Katfish has been quite ill the past several months and of course that is my main priority. I recently found out I can tap into the hospital's WiFi connection on my netbook, so here we go......

Although there have been a number of  hearings since my last report, not much happened during these hearings to actually progress this case towards trial, rather things have been pushed back...several times.  The "wheels of justice turn slowly" is not just a cliche, it's a reality. When I last wrote about this case the court was planning for the trial to start in early 2011. Now we are looking at the Summer or possibly Fall of 2011 before this trial gets under way.


When I started writing this post back on February 5 (after attending a hearing on the 4th), I had planned to try and work backwards to catch up on this case but it's just not going to happen. I'll just pick up from the most recent development that effects this case, and it's a big development ! On March 9, 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois, more than a decade after the state imposed a moratorium on executions out of concern that innocent people could be put to death by a justice system that had wrongly condemned 13 men. Quinn also commuted the sentences of all 15 inmates remaining on Illinois' death row. They will now serve life in prison with no hope of parole. I'll address the effect of this legislation on Nicholas Sheley's case in this entry.

For readers not familiar with this case, Nicholas Sheley is accused of killing eight people ( including Randall ) in a week long killing spree during the last week of June 2008.  Five of the other seven people were killed in Whiteside County, IL, a 20 year old woman, her 2 year old son and three men ages 25, 29 and 93. (Whiteside County is where Sheley is from.) An  Arkansas couple, both age 54,visiting the St. Louis, MO area were Sheley's last 2 (alleged) victims and were killed in Festus, MO. You can learn more about the week of Sheley's alleged killing spree and the weeks leading up to to it by clicking here to see an early post titled " Sheley's Trail of Terror".

With the death penalty abolished in IL, the maximum penalty Nicholas Sheley (if convicted for the death of Ronald Randall ) can face is a life sentence without the possibility of parole (LWOP).  From what I understand, the trial should start sooner, be shorter and less expensive (if convicted, no penalty phase to decide the death penalty).


Nicholas Sheley's defense most likely will consist of one lawyer instead of the three or four he has now. Jeremy Karlin is lead attorney on Sheley's defense team and would remain so. I'm not sure if the Office of the IL Attorney General would still assist the prosecution of this case, but wouldn't be surprised if they did because of the gravity of the alleged crimes. 

Because this is a capital case, Knox County has not been responsible for the costs of this case, funding has come from the Capital Litigation Trust Fund, that burden will now shift to the county and the unspent money in the Capital Litigation Fund will be reallocated to pay for services for victim’s families and law enforcement training.


In the mean time this case is status quo and will proceed as a death penalty case until the new legislation takes effect on July 1, 2011,  unless the state files a motion to withdraw the death penalty before then.
As of the February 4 hearing the next scheduled hearing in this case is a case management hearing on March 29, 2011. We should learn more then.

A final note, Missouri has not abolished the death penalty, so Nicholas Sheley may still face death if he is convicted for the deaths of Tom and Jill Estes.....whenever his case makes it's way there.

Galesburg.com

Chicago Tribune



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Joshua Sheley Has 6 Hour Standoff With Police- Updated x 3

Third Update 7/22- attorney change and another continuance at bottom

Second Update 7/17- preliminary hearing details, below 1st update at bottom.

Updated 7/10 - Joshua Sheley appeared in court on 7/07, details at bottom.

Whiteside County Emergency Response Team members escort Joshua J. Sheley, 32, into a police car at 7:15 p.m. (David Rauch/drauch@svnmail.com)

It has been brought to my attention that Joshua Sheley has been arrested again in Whiteside County, IL.

Joshua Sheley 32, of Sterling, IL was arrested on some outstanding warrants that were issued in Whiteside County on May 21, 2010. I'll get into more about the warrants and the current charges pending against Sheley in a minute.

First, I want to discuss how he and another man, Matthew Simmons, 25 were both apprehended at about 7:15 pm on Monday, July 5, while LE was searching for an attempted robbery suspect. Simmons was arrested on an outstanding Whiteside County warrant for probation violation. 

At about 12:25 pm on Monday, July 5 an attempted robbery at a local Citgo station was reported to the  Sterling police. The QC Times reports that a canine unit used during the search led police to Sheley's home at 905 2nd Ave, Sterling. Shortly after 12:30 pm on the 5th, Sterling police began knocking at the door of Josh Sheley's home, looking for him and one other possible suspect.Police say they talked with a woman with two children. She told officers no one was home, but officers could still hear someone inside. Police then obtained a search warrant and brought in the SWAT team as backup, unaware if the suspects had a gun.

Witnesses tell WQAD News 8 the police with high powered riffles surrounded the area for a block and a half. For the next four hours, police tried to communicate with Sheley and Simmons without any change. Officer eventually shot 20 to 30 rounds of tear gas through windows. Finally around 7:30pm Monday night, the SWAT team entered the house and found both men hiding huddled in a closet. Sheley and Simmons were arrested about seven hours after police first knocked on the door.

The investigation into the attempted armed robbery at the Citgo station continues. Authorities said at this point Josh Sheley does not fit the description of the suspect. So far there is no official word if Simmons fits the description; however, I did see a comment by someone who used the hat-name ignorrance and identified herself as Simmon's sister over on Topix . Part of her comment said, "matthew doesnt fit the description of the attempted robber at citgo, he is BLACK obviously the man was white or they wouldnt have even considered josh a suspect so matthew is totally out of that now when it comes to probation violation okay ignorrance on his part." (c&p as written)

I saw a news clip of the security video of the attempted robbery and the subject appeared completely covered to me, even his face. Identification will likely depend more on height, weight, and clothing....maybe voice. Even if neither man ends up charged for the robbery, it isn't clear whether there will be any charges related to the stand-off.

For those of you not familiar with Joshua Sheley, he is the older brother of Nicholas Sheley, 30,  who is charged with the deaths of 8 people  in connection with a week-long killing spree in June 2008. Katfish ...ponders has reported extensively on the murder and assault cases involving Sheley in Knox County.
Click here to see previous Nicholas Sheley related entries ( newest to oldest dating back to August 2008 ).
Nicholas S. is serving a seven-year sentence in the Pontiac State prison  for an assault he was convicted of committing against the staff of the Knox County Jail, where he was being held following his arrest in July 2008. Nicholas Sheley is expected to stand trial in Knox County sometime between February and May of 2011 for the murder of Ronald Randall,65, Galesburg, IL. If convicted he may face the death penalty.

Josh Sheley was charged with concealment of a homicide and obstruction of justice in connection with the first of the murders his brother Nicholas is charged with committing, that of Russell Reed, 93, of rural Sterling. Two other people were also charged for concealing Reed's death, the charges were dropped for one person and the other, Eric A. Smith, 30, of Rock Falls, was sentenced to 6 years in prison for hiding a gun and ammunition police say was stolen by his cousin, Nicholas Sheley, in late June 2008. Smith, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon in December 2009 and for testifying against his cousin, Joshua Sheley, a couple charges were dropped.

Josh Sheley spent from July 2008 until December 2009 awaiting trial in Whiteside County jail, before he was acquitted on both charges of assisting his brother Nick to cover up Russell Reed's murder by Whiteside County Circuit Judge John Hauptman, after a three-day bench trial

Hauptman stated in his controversial ruling that prosecutors proved that Joshua Sheley’s brother, Nicholas Sheley, played at least some part in the June 2008 killing of 93-year-old Reed. They also proved Joshua Sheley likely had knowledge of it, he said. But the judge said the state had not proved that Joshua Sheley took any action to cover up the crime. As frustrating as that verdict was for so many, if Joshua Sheley did indeed take action to cover-up Reed's murder, he can't be tried on those charges again, so it's left up to Karma and God to deal with him for that now. Of course, if Josh Sheley didn't take action to help his brother Nick, he shouldn't be crucified for his brother's sins either. Having said that, it appears that Joshua, like his brother, has temper and impulse control issues that can cause a lot of trouble; so it's not surprising that he has landed in jail again.

When the Sheley brothers  were arrested in July 2008, Joshua Sheley had only been out of prison for a couple months. He has managed to stay out of jail the last six months , but that doesn't mean he hasn't been (allegedly) misbehaving. The outstanding warrants he was just arrested on are 2 counts of aggravated fleeing or eluding a police officer. They are both class 3 felonies. I think the bond is $100,000.....so he needs $10,000 to bail out.
On March 19 this year Josh Sheley was ticketed for transportation or possession of alcoholic liquor in a motor vehicle. He pled guilty and was fined on April 29, 2010.  Evidently police saw Sheley driving on May 20 with a revoked drivers license, when they attempted to stop him he fled. The warrants were issued the next day, but it seems he wasn't caught until July 6 after the 6+ hour stand off. I have seen it reported in the media that the $100,000 warrant was for failure to appear for a felony, but the Whiteside County website shows the warrant being 2 counts of aggravated fleeing. ????. I  will try to find out more of the specifics.
If convicted as charged a class 3 felony is punishable by Up to a $25,000 Fine and/or 2 to 5 Years in prison for each count. My guess is some of this could end up reduced, but we still don't know if there will be charges for the stand off or attempted robbery. I wouldn't rule out either one just yet.

Sterling police are asking that anyone with information about the attempted robbery contact the Sterling Police Department at 815-632-6640 or Whiteside County Crimestoppers at 815-625-7867.

Update- 7/10

07/07/2010
Defendant in court. Advised of rights & bond. Public Defender appointed. Preliminary hearing scheduled for 7/15/10 at 1 p.m. CMP

07/08/2010 Appearance by Public Defender filed. Speedy Trial Demand filed. 2nd Update- 7/17 07/15/2010- Preliminary hearing- Judge Michael R. Albert Defendant in custody assigned Public Defender (PD) Fagerman. People represented by Assistant States Attorney (ASA) Brozovich. On Defendants motion, without objection by the state, case continued for preliminary hearing 7/22/10 at 1:00 p.m.before Judge Stanley B. Steines 3rd Update- 7/22 07/21/2010  Appearance, Consent and Substitution of Attorney filed by Attorney Jan Buttron. Statement in Support of Rule 18 fees filed. Motion to Continue filed. Notice of Filing filed. 07/22/2010  Defendant in custody appeared with Attorney Jan Buttron. People represented by ASA Costello. On Defendant's motion, preliminary (again) continued to 8/19/10 at 1 p.m. before Judge Michael R.Albert  Quad City Times

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