Edith Brady-Lunny

Jurors opened their deliberations late Wednesday into murder charges against Anthony Grampsas in the December 2018 shooting death of Egerton Dover.

UPDATED 4:30 p.m. | The bloody crime scene where Egerton Dover died showed evidence of multiple gunshots before first responders found his body on the kitchen floor of his west Bloomington apartment.

McLean County’s pretrial services coordinator has been tapped to serve as the manager of pretrial services for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC).

The current pandemic has forced Black men listed on public conviction registries into cycles of homelessness and reincarceration, criminal justice advocates said Tuesday in a plea to Gov. JB Pritzker to suspend housing limitations for registrants.

A recent ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court involving post-conviction petitions could impact pending innocence claims across the state, including efforts by Don Whalen to secure a new trial in the 1991 death of his father in Bloomington.

Five McLean County jail inmates are among scores of defendants whose court-ordered transfer to a state mental health facility has been delayed because of COVID-19.

A McLean County jury on Friday convicted Scotty Allen of murder in the shooting death of Juan Nash during an April 2019 party on Orchard Road in Bloomington.

In his testimony Wednesday in the Scotty Allen murder trial, Kajuan Hobson denied telling police he believed his brother was killed in retaliation for another murder.

Before they went to Christopher Harrison’s home to steal guns, drugs and money, Joseph Gardner and Reggie Hart Jr. made a plan to take what they wanted, according to a detective’s testimony Thursday at Harrison’s murder trial.

UPDATED 4:20 p.m. | Noah Harrison watched as his younger brother pursued two men as they ran from his family’s apartment after an armed robbery that ended in a hail of gunfire that killed the suspects, according to testimony Wednesday at Christopher Harrison’s murder trial.

McLean County's top prosecutor says "what happened in Minneapolis to George Floyd is in (no) way even close to appropriate."

Donald Whalen may have exceeded the legal and geographic bounds of the electronic monitoring device placed on his ankle after he was released from prison pending the outcome of his challenge to his murder conviction, according to testimony Friday from a court services official.

The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear exoneree Alan Beaman’s arguments in his bid to bring to a jury his claims against the Town of Normal and three of its retired police officers.

UPDATED 6:20 p.m. | A man from Normal accused of causing second-degree burns to a 10-year-old child with severe disabilities claimed Friday the girl's injuries may have come from bathing by her in-home nurse.

A dozen Clinton business owners have put local law enforcement and public health authorities on notice they intend to open their doors to the public within a week, despite Gov. JB Pritzker’s order that non-essential services in the state remain closed.

For two decades, Jamie Snow has fought his McLean County murder conviction, but his battle with an infectious disease that has killed 12 of his fellow inmates may pose the biggest threat to his life.

Snow is serving a life sentence at Stateville Correctional Center in the death of Bill Little, a clerk who was fatally shot behind the counter of a Bloomington gas station on Easter Sunday 1991. The Exoneration Project is representing Snow in his effort.

Bond will not be reduced for Don Whalen on charges that he violated terms of his electronic monitoring nine times, pending a ruling on whether he will get a new trial in the 1991 murder of his father.

The wheels of justice are turning at a slower pace in McLean County as police, judges and attorneys navigate the legal system during the coronavirus outbreak.

A LeRoy man who resigned his position with the University of Illinois Police Department after he was charged with official misconduct now faces criminal sexual assault charges.

A 10-year-old boy charged with murder in the April 2019 deaths of five people in a fire in Goodfield will continue to live with relatives while his case is pending, a Woodford County judge ruled Wednesday.

Sex offenders who have completed their sentences but are still being held in Illinois prisons should be released as part of the effort to reduce the state’s prison population during the COVID-19 crisis, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

Defendants exonerated of crimes they did not commit serve an average of 13 years before their release from prison. In many cases, the stretch between conviction and exoneration lasts decades.

The pandemic has stretched across all 50 states. The novel coronavirus has hit major cities the hardest and spread slower in rural areas. But residents of small towns in central Illinois said they nonetheless worry about the likelihood of the pandemic striking their communities.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has forced restaurants to temporarily close, but the growers who provide chefs with fresh produce are still harvesting and putting food on the table.

Rural hospitals in central Illinois are ready to care for patients with COVID-19 symptoms, but demand so far has been low.

The number of inmates held at the McLean County jail dropped to 153 this week as most low-level offenders are processed on the street without a trip to jail, a move aimed to lower the risk of the coronavirus spreading to the county detention center.

The response to violence that has rocked places of worship across the country is the topic of a forum later this month in Normal.

Don Whalen should be returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence on murder charges in the 1991 death of his father, according to a motion filed Wednesday by McLean County prosecutors.

UPDATED 2:50 p.m. | The Fourth District Appellate Court has reversed a ruling allowing Don Whalen a new trial on murder charges and sent the case back to McLean County for further consideration.