Monday, March 9, 2009

Case Management Hearing for Nicholas Sheley Case- Tentative Trial Dates Set, But Where Will The Trial Be Held?

Guest Entry from katfish!

Today, Tuesday, March 3, at 1:15 p.m., there is a Case Management Hearing at the Knox County Courthouse in Galesburg, IL in the murder case of accused spree killer, Nicholas Sheley. Sheley is charged with killing Ronald Randall,65, of Galesburg last June. If convicted, Sheley will face the death penalty.

For readers not familiar with the Sheley case, he is accused of killing 6 people in Illinois and 2 in Missouri. After the trial here in Knox County, Sheley will head over to Whiteside County, IL to be tried and then down to Festus, MO, near St. Louis for the final trial related to this alleged killing spree. On the right hand side of the page here at katfish ponders is a section entitled Labels, if your click on Nicholas Sheley your will see all of the entries related to Sheley in chronological order from most recent down.

I entered the courthouse at about 1:10. Normally I slide straight through the metal detectors, but today I had to stop and get scanned. I got a new watch for Christmas, and that tripped me up. An old friend of mine is working the scanner…he told me, “they are up on second floor.” So I head up the two flights of stairs to the large courtroom. When I reached the courtroom right at 1:15 the only people in there was one bailiff, the clerk and 2 of the victim’s family.

Today’s hearing was originally scheduled as a conference so there may not be too many in attendance. Right after I take a seat behind Ronald Randall’s sisters and say hello, we notice a guy take a seat in the back on the defense side. He is the jail administrator, that means Sheley is in the building. Sheley is brought in through the basement and up the only elevator to the second floor where he is held until court starts.

Knox County is very cautious about security with Sheley, he is always accompanied by a number of Sheriff Department employees. I look over my shoulder and notice the Sheriff, David Clague sitting behind me…stealth… I didn’t see or hear him come in. LOL! Two bailiffs move the long wooden defense table to angle away from the gallery. As I said, they are cautious with Sheley, moving the table makes room for the Deputies guarding Sheley, but also puts a little extra room between him and the gallery.
Continue reading at katfish ponders....

Katfish also has another entry up on the Sheley case. His wife seeking half the reward monies paid out to those who were instrumental in her husband's capture. Keep reading at katfish ponders...

Other stories that katfish has been covering are: Hanna Mack, Casey Anthony, Dominick Arceneaux and the Haleigh Ann Marie Cummings Case.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How especially horrible for the victims' families!!!
Thank you, Katfish, for your continuing coverage of this. Even from my prospective it is heart-wrenching, and that is from the deeply-ingrained childhood memories, sultry summers, car windows rolled down back then) my Dad drive all the way to Sterling -- and we would stay at our Grandma and Grandpa's house there. And they are buried there now too...
You wrote "folks" as you wrote of the people there and as I read that I remembered that, growing up, I knew that my parents were talking about my G'ma and G'pa when they said "the folks"; that's what G'ma and G'pa called people there too. I remember watching the midwest roll by, the heartland, wondering who lived in those farmhouses, and the nostalgia I felt even way back then, as we would drive back to the east coast.
I feel sickened when I read his wife said she/he helped find the "bodies"; personally decimated too.

You are definitely not alone.

flere

Anonymous said...

p.s. Katfish, did I say heart-wretching, did I mean heart-wrenching ? If you post you can change it tho = the same thing.
I just want you to know I'll be thinking of you...

flere