Judge refuses to move trial in slaying of ex-Bear's girlfriend
A Lake County judge said Thursday the trial of a woman accused of killing a Deerfield woman and her unborn child will not be moved out of Lake County because of pretrial publicity.
Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti also rejected a request from lawyers for Marni Yang to issue a special order barring people involved in the case from any public discussion of the matter outside the courtroom.
Yang, 41, faces life in prison if convicted of the Oct. 4, 2007, shootings of Rhoni Reuter, 41, and her unborn daughter in their Deerfield home.
Attorneys William Hendricks and Jeff Lerner argued that intense media coverage of the case, fueled in part by the fact former Chicago Bears safety Shaun Gayle was the father of Reuter's unborn daughter, had made it impossible for Yang to get a fair trial locally.
"We have seen extensive pretrial publicity which is both prejudicial and inflammatory," Hendricks said. "We feel this community is so poisoned against her that it would be impossible for an impartial jury to be impaneled."
Police claim Yang concocted a diabolic plot to kill Reuter and her daughter involving a disguise, stolen license plates on a rental car and disposing the weapon in a bucket of cement.
When Yang was arrested in March, officials said she was jealous of Gayle's relationship with Reuter, although Gayle has denied he was romantically involved with Yang.
Rossetti agreed with Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Fix who argued there was no reason to move the trial at this point because there had been no indication impartial jurors could not be found due of media coverage of the case.
She said she would be willing to reconsider the motion if, when jury selection begins, it is discovered a large number of potential jurors have pre-decided the matter.
Hendricks and Lerner argued a segment about the case on the NBC television program "Dateline" on July 31 was a calculated attack on their client's reputation, and asked Rossetti to bar investigators and others connected to case from discussing it publicly.
But Rossetti said she would not issue the order because attorneys on both sides and law enforcement personnel with knowledge of the case are already bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Rossetti ordered the lawyers to return to court Dec. 17 so a trial date can be scheduled.
Yang is held without bond in the Lake County jail.
She also said she would not grant a defense request to order NBC not to rebroadcast the "Dateline" segment on the case, and to remove it from the network's Web site, because she has no authority to do so.