Marni Yang has waited six years for a court hearing that could lead to her receiving a new trial or exoneration in the Oct. 4, 2007, murder of Rhoni Reuter, the pregnant girlfriend of former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle. She will have to wait a little longer.
Lake County Judge Christopher R. Stride postponed proceedings just as they started Monday, after prosecutors claimed that Yang’s attorney Jed Stone introduced evidence he had not previously turned over.
“This is an entirely new report dropped on us,” Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Scott Hoffert said. “There is handwriting. There are photos I’ve not seen before. We want time to review this 111-page new document.”
In earlier proceedings, Stone introduced crime scene evidence that he said shows Yang, 57, could not have killed the 42-year-old Reuter, who was shot to death in her Deerfield home. That evidence includes DNA from an unknown man on five unspent ammunition shells found at the crime scene and a forensic pathologist’s report stating the killer was taller than Yang, who is 5 foot tall.
Authorities say Yang killed Reuter and her unborn child, Skylar, because she was jealous of her relationship with Gayle. Jurors in 2011 convicted her of first-degree murder and she was sentenced to life in prison.
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