Illinois
Judge wants DNA tests in killing of ex-Bear girlfriend
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - A suburban Chicago judge ordered new evidence tests in the case of a woman serving a life sentence for killing the pregnant girlfriend of former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle in 2007.
Lake County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Stride on Thursday signed an order to test bullet shell casings used to kill Rhoni Reuter, 42, of Deerfield, WMAQ-TV reported. Marni Yang of Deerfield was convicted in 2011 in Reuter's death, which prosecutors alleged was a meticulously planned killing of someone Yang viewed as a rival for the football player's affection.
Jed Stone, Yang's defense attorney, said he has found a prominent DNA expert to extract a small sample of skin cells from the shell casings. The new test will reveal the true identity of the killer, Stone said.
Prosecutors have no objection to Stone's request, according to Assistant State's Attorney Ari Fisz.
Yang was charged in March 2009, entered a not guilty plea the following month, and convicted of first-degree murder two years later.
After she was convicted in Lake County Circuit Court, Yang's appeal was denied in the 2nd District Appellate Court. The Illinois Supreme Court also refused to hear her case. But now Stone is assembling a post-conviction petition to bring new evidence that wasn't heard during the initial trial.
"I know her trial was highly watched, and the evidence seemed overwhelming," Stone said. "But we are on a truth-seeking mission."
Gayle testified during the trial, saying he and Yang had a sporadic sexual relationship, and he had met with her the night before Reuter was killed. Prosecutors said jealousy led Yang to kill Reuter because she was pregnant with Gayle's child.
Investigators presented police wire taps from 2009 in which Yang was heard discussing murder with a friend.
Before Reuter's killing, Yang ordered books explaining how to silence a handgun and purchased the necessary materials, according to testimony. Authorities said Yang also searched Reuter's address on the Internet, and wore a disguise the day of the slaying.
Yang is being held at the Dwight Correctional Center. She won't be eligible for parole if her remaining appeals are unsuccessful.
Virginia
Waiver of 4th Amendment unreasonable
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia Supreme Court says a judge went too far in requiring a sex offender to give up his constitutional protection against unreasonable searches.
As a condition of probation, a Hanover County Circuit Court judge required that Ronald Stuart Murry Jr. submit to law enforcement searches without a warrant or any suspicion of wrongdoing for the rest of his life after serving his sentence of 16 years and seven months in prison. The judge thought that was a good idea because Murry had concealed his grooming of a child victim.
In a 6-1 decision Friday, the state Supreme Court said the lifetime waiver of Murry's Fourth Amendment rights was unreasonable in light of his background and the facts of his case. The justices ordered a new sentencing hearing.
California
Fight over World War II-era tank goes to court
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - A company headed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has filed a lawsuit in the San Francisco Bay Area over a World War II-era German tank it says it paid $2.5 million for, but never received.
The Panzer IV tank was part of a fleet of military vehicles amassed by Stanford University-trained engineer Jacques Littlefield. His family turned them over to the Massachusetts-based Collings Foundation, which put some of them up for auction in Portola Valley in July.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Mateo County, Allen's company, Vulcan Warbirds, says it was later told there had been a misunderstanding and the foundation didn't want to give the tank up.
Collings Foundation CEO Rob Collings told the Palo Alto Daily News the tank was never sold.
Utah
Court reverses Ogden man's 2011 murder conviction
OGDEN, Utah (AP) - An appeals court has overturned the conviction of an Ogden man accused of killing a man who used a racial slur and spit on him.
A unanimous decision Thursday from the Utah Court of Appeals says the trial judge erred when he excluded some evidence in 54-year-old Robert Lee McCullar's trial.
McCullar was convicted of first-degree murder in 2011 in the death of Filiberto Bedolla Robles.
The 49-year-old Robles was found dead in his apartment with his throat slashed in December 2009.
McCullar said he killed Robles because Robles stole his cigarette and addressed him using a racial slur, according to a recording taped by a supposed prostitute who worked for McCullar.
The case goes back to the lower court, and McCullar could get a new trial.
