Police and Courts

As the holiday season arrives, Black Lives Matter BloNo is calling for volunteers to help monitor McLean County courtrooms as part of its ongoing efforts to reunite families with loved ones who can't afford bail.

UPDATED 6:20 p.m. | A jury considering murder charges against Kyle Brestan in the 2017 brutal stabbing death of a 27-year-old Washington woman deliberated about four hours Tuesday without reaching a verdict.

UPDATED 4:10 p.m. | Closing arguments will be delivered Tuesday in the murder trial of Kyle Brestan in the brutal stabbing death of Shannon Hastings.

Forensic test results in the Shannon Hastings murder investigation identified Kyle Brestan as a possible contributor to DNA collected from a bloody towel, according to testimony Friday in Brestan’s murder trial.

Lawyers for Don Whalen renewed their arguments Wednesday in support of a new trial for Whalen on murder charges in the 1991 beating death of his father.

Text messages exchanged between Kyle Brestan and a woman he’s accused of stabbing 105 times show a rocky relationship, according to evidence presented Wednesday in Brestan’s murder trial.

UPDATED 4:30 p.m. | Jurors in the Kyle Brestan murder trial viewed graphic photos Tuesday of stabbing victim Shannon Hastings as she laid in a pool of blood in a Bloomington hotel room.

Pretrial proceedings in McLean County’s lawsuit against drugmakers and distributors over the opioid epidemic have been moved to Cook County and consolidated with other Illinois cases.

Opening statements are expected Tuesday in the murder trial of Kyle Brestan in the 2017 stabbing death of a Washington woman.

The bench trial and sentencing hearing for a terminally ill McLean man was delayed Friday until a judge can determine if the defendant has the medical and psychological capacity to move forward on sexual abuse charges involving four minors.

McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder said a Southern Illinois woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash near Bellflower on Sunday night.

Authorities are investigating a crash that killed a 31-year-old woman Sunday night near Bellflower.

UPDATED 3:20 p.m. | A Bloomington man was charged Friday with critically injuring his 5-month-old son, authorities said.

A former Bloomington man who scammed an elderly woman of more than $500,000 faces 6 ½ years in prison.

McLean County has several new appointments in court services.

Suspects from Bloomington and Peoria were among those arrested last weekend during an FBI sting targeting men who allegedly used social media to try and lure minors into sexual activity.

A 19-year-old from Normal has pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges but still plans to mount a self-defense claim against murder charges at his trial in February.

UPDATED 10:10 a.m. | Bloomington Fire officials said fire destroyed an auto repair shop Thursday morning and tied up downtown traffic for several hours.

A $500,000 federal grant will help a Bloomington child and family service agency expand its weekly supervised visitations and safe exchanges to more clients.

Hundreds of probation officers from across Illinois are in Normal this week to learn new methods to help offenders stay in the community and further reduce the state’s incarceration rate.

A McLean County jury Thursday found a Bloomington woman guilty of armed robbery with the use of a firearm.

The murder trial for a Normal woman accused of killing an 8-year-old girl has been delayed as prosecutors explore the defense’s alternative theory for how the child died.

For the first time in a decade, Thomas Meece is able to walk outside into the fresh air without a chaperone and plan for his future.