Sheley Hearing on Jailhouse Assault Charges, Ruling Delayed on Sheley's Request to Represent Himself

Guest Entry by katfish!

Nicholas Sheley, in custody.

I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this entry up, I have been doing a lot of yard work including some heavy duty digging and totally zonked out after the hearing. LOL, I almost missed Tuesday's case management hearing on the murder charges as well, but I made it. I'll report on that hearing after I get this entry done.

Monday May 4 was another hearing for Nicholas Sheley at the Knox County Courthouse in Galesburg, IL for charges related to a recent incident at the Knox County Jail.

Sheley, an accused spree killer, has been held in the Knox County Jail awaiting trial, since last July, on a $10 million bond. He is facing 17 counts, 10 of those first-degree murder, in connection with the death of Ronald Randall, just one of the eight people he is accused of bludgeoning to death during the 2008 two-state killing spree. If convicted in the murder case, Sheley will face the death penalty.

Sheley is accused of attacking several deputies at the Knox County Jail on April 17 , allegedly punching deputies and throwing metal legs of a chair when asked to return to his cell from a maximum security day area. Three counts of Aggravated Battery to a correctional officer, one count of Aggravated Assault and Criminal Damage to Property were filed against Sheley after the incident.

At a custody hearing, on April 23, in Knox County Circuit Court, Judge Dwayne Morrison set an additional bond of $250,000 for the five new charges against Sheley. Morrison also appointed public defender Jim Harrell to represent Sheley on the charges. Harrell already is co-counsel with Jeremy Karlin in Sheley’s murder proceedings. At the end of this hearing and at a hearing on April 27, Sheley told Judge Dwayne Morrison that he wants to represent himself on the five new charges. Morrison warned Sheley that representing himself in this case was not in Sheley’s best interest, but did not make a ruling.

I arrived at the courthouse just a few minutes before three. I went straight through security and the bailiff's at the entry pointed me towards the downstairs courtroom and told me to hurry before they brought Sheley in.

This courtroom is much smaller than the upstairs courtroom it's a rectangle shaped room with the judge's bench at the front of the room. There are 4 or 5 rows on each side of the room with a aisle in the middle leading up to the bench. Each row has 4 oak (?) slat back chairs. When I come into the courtroom the only people here are 3 of Ronald Randall's family seated on the right hand side of the room and a couple men on the left hand side who I don't recognise. There are two members of the accredited press here. The bailiffs have hung signs on the back of three chairs in the front row on the right side that say reserved for press. It doesn't look like there will be many here for this hearing.

Within moments Sheley is brought in through a side door at the front of the courtroom next to the bench. He is fully shackled and wearing his orange jailhouse garb. His head is shaved to the skin today. Seven Sheriff's personnel surround him as he is seated at a long table in front of the Judge's bench right next to Public defender James Harrell.

Continue reading at katfish ponders!