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| Accused Spree Killer's Brother Not Guilty of Murder Cover-Up |
POSTED 2:33pm 12/14/09 The older brother of a Sterling man accused of eight murders in two states has been found not guilty of trying to cover up the death of one of those.
The Sterling Daily Gazette reports Whiteside County Judge John Hauptman found 32-year old Joshua Sheley not guilty Monday morning of Concealment of a Homicidal Death and Obstruction of Justice in connection to the death of 93-year old Russell Reed of Sterling.
Joshua Sheley was accused by prosecutors of helping 30-year old Nicholas Sheley hide Reed's body in late-June of last year. They claim Joshua Sheley helped his brother clean up the scene around Reed's Sterling home when the murder occurred, and that he also helped put the body into the trunk of Reed's own car.
Joshua Sheley claimed he had no idea his brother committed such a crime, and that blood found on his clothes around the time of the killing was due to a three-day cocaine and alcohol binge, and that he at one point ended up face-first into a door.
In making the not guilty verdict, the Gazette reports Hauptman cited testimony from state witnesses he thought was inconsistent. He also referred to those witnesses as drug and alcohol abusers.
Nicholas Sheley faces murder charges for Reed's death, and is currently awaiting trial in Knox County on a dozen-and-a-half felony murder and other counts for the death of 65-year old Ronald Randall.
Sheley is housed in the Pontiac correctional facility after being convicted of an assault on Knox County Jailhouse employees in April, and will be back in court here in February.
(Nicholas Sheley. WGIL News File Photo.) |
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| 12 14 09 by Newsroom |
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