New trial ordered in 1997 killing of boxer

CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of murder in the 1997 fatal shooting of Golden Gloves boxer Gerald Cross.

In a ruling released Tuesday, the 1st District Court of Appeals found that Cook County Judge Brian Flaherty made several errors in the trial of Keith Wilcox of Harvey.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Wilcox disappeared shortly after Cross was slain in Harvey. He was captured in Las Vegas in 2004, where he was living with a brother who was himself wanted for the murders of an Ohio man and infant.

The appeals court found that Flaherty wrongly barred the testimony of a man who gave a signed statement alleging that another man at the scene of the shooting had killed Cross.