Web Exclusive: Crime and punishment, part 1
Note to readers: This is the first in a four-part series of stories examining the criminal past of accused spree killer
STERLING - When Nicholas T. Sheley turned 21 in July 2000, he was a free man - free on bail with a 6-year prison term waiting for him.
Six months earlier, police and prosecutors testified that he had robbed two Sterling men at gunpoint for $95 cash. He was charged with four class X felony counts of armed robbery - the most severe criminal charge, one that carries stiff prison terms.
Somewhere along the line, those serious charges were dismissed in favor of a single count of aggravated robbery - a much less severe class 1 felony.
At sentencing, there was no mention of handgun use, and prosecutors recommended that he be sent to boot camp rather than prison - an alternative sentence usually reserved for non-violent offenders.
Sheley served 3 years of the 6-year sentence - 3 weeks in boot camp and the rest in a prison cell. It was the longest stint he would do, despite frequent arrests for increasingly violent crimes that drew him into a circle of some of the Twin Cities' most notorious criminals. By this time in his life, Sheley already had 12 convictions: eight felonies and four misdemeanors.
Today, the slight 28-year-old Sterling man sits in the Madison County jail charged with six gruesome murders committed during a week-long killing spree. The victims include a mutilated 2-year-old boy and a 93-year-old man.
A close review of hundreds of court documents spanning Sheley's adult life reveals a pattern of arrests and charges for violent crimes that were later reduced or dropped entirely - sometimes for no apparent reason.
The robbery in 2000 marked the second time in Sheley's early adult life that the Whiteside County state's attorney's office had dropped substantial charges against him in exchange for a plea.
Whiteside County State's Attorney Gary Spencer, who is Illinois' longest-serving prosecutor with a 27-year tenure, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this article.
Early criminal career
One middsummer night, a Whiteside County sheriff's deputy stopped a car Sheley was driving for having faulty tail lights. At that time, Sheley was 18 and on probation for an undisclosed juvenile offense.
According to archived court testimony, Sheley reached toward the backseat. There, in the dark, lay two loaded shotguns.
The deputy quickly drew his handgun on Sheley and ordered him to the ground.
According to testimony from then-Assistant State's Attorney William McNeal, a search of the car turned up 1.2 ounces of marijuana and a scale, a stone marijuana pipe, a steak knife, the Remington and New England 12-gauge shotguns, four shotgun shells in Sheley's pants pocket, and more strewn across the floor of the car.
The deputy also found an open can of Budweiser beer and three more cans in a cooler.
Sheley's parents posted $3,000 bail for the young man.
He was charged with a string of felonies and misdemeanors, including possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia, the unlawful use and possession of firearms and ammunition without a state firearms ID, and the underage possession of alcohol.
On March 2, 1998, Sheley received two sentences: One for 330 days in jail and another for 30 months' probation. Neither sentence went into force for seven days.
By the end of that week, prosecutors had put a hold on the imprisonment order and turned Sheley loose on probation.
Death threat
Fifteen months later - halfway through his probation for the host of charges - Sheley threatened to kill a woman with a large, gray brick, according to a parole violation charge filed in June 1999.
That earned him a charge of aggravated assault.
Prosecutors also accused him of resisting a police officer and drinking underage.
Throughout his probation, Sheley failed to register with court services on a monthly basis or pay court-ordered fees.
He was granted a recognizance bond, meaning he didn't have to post bail, and walked free with a notice to appear in court.
On Oct. 1, 1999 - 27 months after he was first caught with the marijuana and guns - Sheley was sentenced to 1 year in prison with credit for 52 days served in Whiteside County jail.
He spent 2 months in prison before he went free on parole.
Less than 3 months later, Sheley was in trouble again for the robbery that landed him in boot camp.
Up next: The violence escalates.
