Path to prosecution
When the handcuffs of a Granite City police officer locked around the wrists of Nicholas T. Sheley on July 1, a collective sigh of relief made its way across the state.
During the course of a 6-day manhunt for the Sterling fugitive, starting with the June 26 discovery of a 93-year-old Sterling man’s body, police found eight homicide victims in Illinois and Missouri – five in the Sauk Valley alone.
Sheley has been charged in each of those deaths, but is not facing them in the order in which police and prosecutors believe the victims were killed.
Shortly after he was arrested in Granite City, Sheley was taken to Knox County, where he was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ronald Randall, 65, of Galesburg. Randall’s was the fourth body to be discovered.
The first was Russell Reed, 93, of Sterling, followed by Tom and Jill Estes, both 54, on June 30 in Festus, Mo. They were found just hours before Randall’s body was discovered in Galesburg that same day.
Later that afternoon, police entered a Rock Falls apartment to find the bludgeoned bodies of Kenneth Ulve, 25; Brock Branson, 29; his fiancé, Kilynna Blake, 20; and her son Dayan, 2.
With prosecutors in Knox and Whiteside counties working with the Illinois attorney general’s office to coordinate Sheley’s prosecution, it appears he will stand trial for Randall’s death before he will see the inside of a Whiteside County courtroom.
County proceedings in Knox have taken several interesting and surprising turns: Sheley’s request to represent himself, an assault case based on his alleged attack of Knox County jail workers, and questions about his fitness to stand trial.
With that trial still a year away, it has not even been determined whether the Knox County trial will take place in Knox County.
Finding a venue
In March, court-appointed defense attorney Jeremy Karlin filed a motion to move the trial, citing “overwhelming, unprecedented, and highly prejudicial publicity” that could taint prospective jurors.
In high-profile cases, a request for a change of venue is almost a guarantee, said Andrew Bollman, a Dixon lawyer and former Lee County assistant state’s attorney.
“The judge will first look at the administration of justice – what’s going to give the defendant his day in court,” Bollman said. “At the same time, you have to look at the realities of life as well. What will happen in this particular case? I don’t know.”
To win a change of venue, a defense attorney must bring in evidence that shows the defendant would not receive a fair trial because a majority of the potential jurors in the area are “tainted.”
Karlin and Knox County Public Defender Jim Harrell twice subpoenaed more than 80 news organizations. Although a hearing date has not been set, they have been polling counties to determine where a trial might be held.
Several notable and highly publicized cases have been moved from other counties to Sauk Valley courtrooms.
One is the 2005 Rock Island County case of Sarah Kolb, an East Moline teen convicted of dismembering a 16-year-old acquaintance. The first trial, held in Rock Island County, ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked.
The next year, a second trial was moved to Lee County, where the jury found Kolb guilty. She was sentenced to 53 years in prison.
In 2003, the trial of Curtis Thompson, then 60, of Toulon, also was moved to Lee County. Thompson, nicknamed “The Bully of Toulon,” was sentenced to death for the murders of a Stark County sheriff’s deputy and a Toulon couple.
What about insanity?
Perhaps the biggest issue on the table in the Knox County case is the question of Sheley’s fitness to stand trial.
In September, Sheley asked the court’s permission to fire his attorneys and represent himself. Judge James Stewart refused to entertain the motion until the court had determined Sheley’s fitness.
Two evaluations in December found Sheley fit to stand trial but unfit to represent himself.
Stewart’s ruling and the subsequent evaluations probably decrease the likelihood that Sheley’s lawyers will try to mount an insanity defense.
Bollman declined to comment on Sheley’s fitness or whether an insanity defense would be viable. He did say that to attempt such a strategy, attorneys must file something early during court proceedings. The defendant would be evaluated, then experts for both sides would testify during a hearing to determine whether the insanity plea is a viable option.
Proving insanity can be difficult, Bollman said, and success rests on the reliability and credibility of the psychological reports.
“Insanity could be insanity in general; You can be crazy all the time, or it could be for a brief moment,” Bollman said. “A big distinction is that many times rage can take over and you don’t know what you’re doing, at least that’s what many experts testify to.”
Next stop
Regardless of the verdict in Knox County, there is little doubt Sheley will answer to charges in the other deaths.
Prosecutors in Jefferson County, Mo., charged Sheley with four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of the Esteses. Although Jefferson County may be the last jurisdiction to get its hands on Sheley, prosecutors there said they intend to move forward with the case.
“We will extradite to Missouri, no matter what happens,” said Assistant Prosecutor Steven Jerrell said in September. He also has said that after Sheley is tried in Knox, the defendant likely will be taken to Whiteside County.
Even if prosecutors get a conviction in Knox County, Bollman said he believes Whiteside and Jefferson counties will take a crack at prosecuting Sheley, no matter how long it takes.
“I think all the counties would want to hold him accountable, not only for criminal purposes, for prosecution,” Bollman said, “but there is a certain sense of closure that the community needs.”
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