Adams wants new trial, sentence reconsidered
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| Byron Adams |
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DIXON – The attorney for convicted killer Byron Adams said Wednesday that he would file motions for a new trial and to reconsider his client’s 60-year prison sentence.
Dixon attorney David Mandrgoc said he was working on the motions and would review them with his client before a March 7 status hearing. A hearing on those motions will be set at the status hearing.
Adams was convicted in October of first-degree murder in the suffocation of Margaret Atherton, 35, killed in her Dixon home on Sept. 11, 2009.
On Dec. 24, Adams filed a handwritten motion asking Judge Charles Beckman to reconsider the prison term, saying prejudicial testimony was presented at sentencing.
Motions for a new trial and sentence reconsideration are common defense requests that rarely are successful. The issues presented in those motions likely will be the basis for an appeal to the state appellate court.
