Suspect agrees to counsel in assault case

GALESBURG -- A man charged with killing eight people last year in Illinois and Missouri has decided against representing himself in an alleged jailhouse attack.

Nicholas Sheley told Knox County Judge Dwayne Morrison in Galesburg on Friday that he wants counsel in the case. Sheley is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly hitting a corrections officer last month.

The 29-year-old Sheley is being held in Knox County Jail on first-degree murder charges in the June 2008 death of a Galesburg man.

Sheley had earlier asked to represent himself in that case before changing his mind.

Sheley is also charged with murder in five other deaths last June in Illinois and the killings of two people that month in Missouri.