GUILTY IL - Antinette 'Toni' Keller, 18, DeKalb, NIU Student, 14 October 2010

[cats5vegas]

niuparent, thank you for continuously staying on top of the happenings in this case. It has not gone unnoticed and is very much appreciated.

Yes, thank you so much for the updates. I'm an NIU grad but am now out in Las Vegas, so I don't see the regular news articles from DeKalb. I greatly appreciate your posts.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Curl has a status hearing tomorrow morning. Local supporters are asked to come for a quiet gathering wearing yellow in support of Toni's parents and family.

http://plainfield.patch.com/articles/summoning-of-the-yellow-to-support-keller-family

In the same article it says the Kellers will donate money raised for their travel expenses to the Morgan County Habitat for Humanity in Toni's honor.

 

[niuparent]

I've looked for more information about what took place in court on June 12, 2012 but haven't found anything yet.

In the plainfield patch article Amanda Reckonwith mentioned above, it does say the status hearings are supposed to be held monthly:

"“Mostly, the family needs to see people in yellow,” Holderness said, asking that supporters show up for the next hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, June 12 at the DeKalb County Courthouse, clad in the color of sunshine.

“The judge has ordered these status hearings to be held monthly until the December trial date,” Holderness said.

Supporters are asked to gather at 8 a.m. Tuesday outside the courthouse, 133 W. State St. in Sycamore, Illinois, on the lawn near State Street/Route 64, Holderness said."

 

[niuparent]

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/06/29/harris-resigns-as-public-defender/afapz3h/

Regina Harris, Curl's public defender, resigned as of 6/29/12. She's decided to go into private practice.

"Until a permanent replacement is found, local attorney Robert Carlson will be the acting public defender," Judge Robbin Stuckert announced.

The article states that although Harris is resigning as DeKalb County public defender, neither she nor the state’s attorney anticipate a delay in the murder trials of her high-profile clients, Jack McCullough and William Curl. Curl is still scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 3, 2012. (My fear is that they'll find yet another reason to postpone it, as the date gets closer...:banghead: )

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

I just saw this!

What now??? <modsnip>

 

[Cubby]

Fund Established to Purchase Bench in Honor of 'Sunflower Girl' Toni Keller

<snip> nearly two years after her death, supporters of the Keller family hope to help Toni keep making people feel happy with the cheerful flower by placing a sunflower bench near the entrance of Prairie Park in DeKalb.

<snip>

Holderness said the bench is intended to replace a white cross erected on DeKalb Elks Lodge property near a Prairie Park entrance.

Full article at link:

http://plainfield.patch.com/article...-bench-in-honor-of-sunflower-girl-toni-keller

ETA: Here is a photo from the above article of the bench to honor Toni. It's beautiful.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012...d-as-curls-pretrial-hearings-drag-on/alntnwg/

After William &#8220;Billy&#8221; Curl, 35, appeared in court via closed-circuit TV from the DeKalb County Jail and was assigned Aug. 29 as his next court date, Roger Keller stood up and spoke out.

&#8220;My family is suffering, and that&#8217;s the truth,&#8221; he said, directing his comments at Presiding Judge Robbin Stuckert. As he walked out of the courtroom, Keller said no one cared, including Stuckert.

 

[Cubby]

Murder victim&#8217;s grandma: &#8216;They tell us to be patient&#8217;


The simple request from murder victim Toni Keller&#8217;s grandmother did not hide the heartbreak.

&#8220;We the family would like you to put every court date in the paper,&#8221; Joan Knable wrote in a letter to the editor. &#8220;The next court date at Sycamore Court House is August 29, 2012.&#8221;


Full article at link:

http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news...ctims-grandma-they-tell-us-to-be-patient.html



I hope the Keller family knows they are not alone.
We at WS will try to post every court date until the trial and through jury deliberations and sentencing.

Praying for justice for Toni and comfort for her family while the wheels of justice turn ever so slowly.
raying: :rose:

 

[niuparent]

I've tried to find new information about what happened at yesterday's court date, and when the next appearance is scheduled, to no avail. The online versions that I saw of DeKalb's Daily Chronicle and NIU's NothernStar newspapers don't seem to mention it.
Does anyone know?

 

[Cubby]

I'm still looking for information on yesterday's court date.

I did find this, from Tuesday of this week.

A year ago, grounds staff at Northern Illinois University decided to plant some flowers in a neglected garden plot in front of the Neptune North residence hall.
Despite the fear that steam pipes running under the garden plot would prevent the flowers from growing, the plants are flourishing, according to NIU employee Thelma Holderness.

Full article and photo's at link:

http://plainfield.patch.com/articles/keller-s-memory-in-bloom-at-niu

 

[Cubby]

I found nothing in MSM regarding August 29th status hearing. The Patch article in my previous post mentions a FB page, Summoning of Yellow, set up for updates and support for the trial.

https://www.facebook.com/SummoningOfYellow

Paraphrased for TOS:

(22 hours ago) Toni's father received a last minute notice late Tuesday (evening?) that the regular Judge Struckertt was not going to be at the hearing and another judge was going to be sitting in. Thus, he (Toni's dad) decided to skip Wednesday's status hearing.

According to the SummoningOfYellow FB page, the next status hearing is scheduled for September 6, which is Thursday of next week.


The person who made the above post was outside in yellow greeting other people who showed up wearing yellow, per the Kellow Family request (previously posted) to be seen outside wearing yellow. There were no updates to what took place within the court room, if anything other than just scheduling for next week's hearing occured.


I have not found any online court records for Dekalb County, IL.

 

[niuparent]

Given the seeming lack of sensitivity to Toni's family from the regular judge and attorneys in this case, I can't help but wonder if a "stand in" would've been better for her family to deal with? On the other hand, no doubt her parents are emotionally exhausted, and didn't need to waste another ounce of energy showing up in court when no significant decisions were going to be made...

 

[Cubby]

My opinion of a "stand in" judge would really be their purpose would be to sit in and add another date on the dockett when the regular judge was available. I don't think I'd want a stand in dealing with decisions with so little or no knowledge of the history of the case.

That is not to minimize what Toni's family is experiencing. I can only imagine the frustration of being in criminal court over and over to have nothing more done than set another date. I hope they can find some understanding in knowing this is part of the process to ensure when this is convicted there is no room to overturn the conviction.

 

[Cubby]

Status hearing today.

https://www.facebook.com/SummoningOfYellow

 

[Cubby]

DeKALB – No delay is expected in the murder trial of William "Billy" Curl, which is scheduled to start Dec. 3, despite a minor hiccup Thursday.
Prosecutors said they received from the public defender's office a psychological evaluation of Curl, but it did not contain the documentation on which the evaluation was based.

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/09/06/no-delay-in-curl-trial-expected/amw3vh4/

 

[Cubby]

I think there is another status hearing set for September 20th to ensure the prosecution has received the appropriate paperwork/documentation regarding the psychological evaluation. At least that is my understanding between todays posts at the Summoning of Yellow FB page and the above msm article.

The wheels of justice are moving slowly.

Keeping the Keller family in my prayers. raying:

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Other than the trial delays there is a little sad story. Toni's small memorial at the entrance to Prairie Park near the Elks Club has been vandalized. Someone removed the bloom off the big sunflower there. Community members had been nurturing it all summer, watering it throughout the drought.

I added the story in the archive.

The good news is that the sunflower garden planted at Neptune North is flourishing.

 

[niuparent]

According to http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/09/20/deadline-for-additional-motions-set-in-curl-trial/aqz13wy/

Oct. 23 was established as the cut-off date for pretrial motions to be filed by either his attorneys or the state.

Prosecutor Phil Montgomery with the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office said the state plans to file a motion to exclude testimony from the psychologist who completed the evaluation of Curl.

How the judge rules on that motion will determine whether the case goes to trial in December, Montgomery said.


I'm going to ask what may be a dumb question, but what do you imagine the reason is, that the prosecutors want to exclude the psychologist's testimony? Is that a typical occurrence in these sorts of cases, and even allowed? I'm guessing the defense intends to claim that Curl is incompetent to stand trial, but the State's Atty. wants to be sure he's convicted, however Illinois has no death penalty, so either way he's likely to remain locked up. I just hate to see this case dragged out even longer....

 

[Cubby]

I can only guess, but perhaps the prosecution does not feel the psychiatric info is necessary since Curl has been deemed competent to stand trial. Maybe they feel tossing in the psychiatrists info would only confuse the jury?

As for the part where it read something about if this goes to trial in Decemember makes me wonder if perhaps a plea deal is in the works? Again, these are just guesses.

 

[Cubby]

:bump:

Bumping for Toni. Keeping the Keller family in our prayers as they await justice for Toni.


:rose: