Appeal delays Belleville triple-murder trial

BELLEVILLE -- A prosecutor has appealed a judge's ruling regarding testimony in the trial of a man accused of killing three people at a Belleville beauty salon.

Assistant State's Attorney Jim Piper's appeal Tuesday means Darrell Lane won't go to trial Feb. 23.

Piper wants the 5th Appellate Court in Mount Vernon to overturn St. Clair County Circuit Judge Milton Wharton's ruling. He said last month prosecutors can't use statements Lane made to police unless the 19-year-old testifies.

Wharton's ruling came after a psychologist testified Lane has an IQ of 63 and functions intellectually as a 10-year-old.

Lane is charged in the 2005 stabbing deaths of hair stylist Michael Cooney and two of his customers, sisters 82-year-old Dorothy Bone and 79-year-old Doris Fischer.