IL - Eight slain in IL/MO crime spree, Nicholas Sheley charged, June 2008

[OkieGranny]

http://nwherald.com/2014/08/11/nicholas-sheley-sentenced-to-4-more-life-terms/asd4x9g/

A man serving two life sentences for a pair of Illinois killings was sentenced Monday to four more...

Sheley is already serving life sentences for the deaths of two Illinois men that June. He next faces trial in Missouri, where prosecutors can pursue the death penalty in the deaths of Jill and Tom Estes, a Sherwood, Arkansas, couple who were traveling in that state.

 

[OkieGranny]

From last month:

http://www.saukvalley.com/2015/11/16/sheley-change-of-venue-hearing-reset-for-january/a7hrqom/

A change-of-venue hearing for a Sterling man, facing the death sentence if convicted of killing his seventh and eighth victims, has been moved to Jan. 8.

Nicholas Sheley... is being tried in Jefferson County Court in Missouri for the bludgeoning deaths of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, Arkansas.

 

[0101ABA]

An Illinois man already serving six life sentences for murder in that state tried to avoid the possibility of getting the death penalty in Missouri today.

Nicholas Sheley killed six people during a two-week spree in Illinois in 2008. He is now facing murder charges in connection with the killings of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, Arkansas.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif](...)[/FONT]

Sheley's next court appearance is in September.

http://www.ourquadcities.com/news/sheley-wants-death-penalty-off-the-table

 

[0101ABA]

Trial date set in Missouri for Sheley

Convicted killer Nicholas T. Sheley will be tried Jan. 8, 2018, in Missouri in the June 2008 deaths of an Arkansas couple in Festus, Missouri.

The 37-year-old Sterling, Illinois, man faces the death penalty if convicted in the deaths of Jill and Tom Estes, both 54.


Jury selection is scheduled for Jan. 4-5, 2018, in Hillsboro, Missouri, according to online court records. The trial is slated to last two weeks.

 

[wendygoingetztuff]

https://www.facebook.com/Jeffco411/posts/1487103948035386
Nicholas Sheley’s plea hearing in Missouri was today

 

[watcher9]

Judge Gary Kramer sentenced Nicholas Sheley to life without the possibility of parole for the murder of Tom and Jill Estes. He also sentenced Sheley to 75 years for two counts of armed criminal action.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/spree...-e2f4b1b25182.html#tncms-source=home-breaking

 

[JerseyGirl]

If a judge falls asleep during a murder trial, should the defendant automatically get a new trial?

A divided Illinois Appellate Court panel recently said no; so long as the judge was not dozing through crucial evidence or motions, an inadvertent nap is harmless. “We find that a judge falling asleep during a trial does not constitute … reversible error,” Judge Daniel Schmidt wrote in the majority opinion.

The appellate decision is tied to the case of spree killer Nicholas Sheley, who was on trial for four murders in Judge Jeffrey O’Connor’s western Illinois courtroom in 2014 when the lights were dimmed so the jury could watch security camera footage on a monitor. When the presentation ended, an assistant attorney general asked that the lights be turned back on, according to the ruling. The judge didn’t reply.

“Judge?” the defense attorney asked, according to a transcript cited in the ruling. “Judge O’Connor?”

“Judge could we get the lights back on?” the assistant attorney general asked, approaching the bench.

“Hmm,” O’Connor replied, according to a transcript. A clerk allegedly poked him awake. When it was suggested now was a good time to break for lunch, the judge agreed. “Excellent time,” he said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...es-can-sleep-during-trial-20171105-story.html

 

[Deleted member 287549]

Recently watched the "See no Evil" S05 episode based on these horrific crimes. Truly grotesque & twisted. For whatever reason, I didn't hear about this case ATT.

It appears that the perp.'s main motive was robbery/revenge when it came to some of these crimes, but the middle-aged couple who were travelling in MI on vacation (who were the first victims focused on in the episode) just happened to be in the wrong place @ the wrong time.

Glad the CCTV camera footage was instrumental in catching this perp. Someone like this should never be able to walk the streets again. Truly heinous.