HILLSBORO, Mo. (AP) — An Illinois man already serving life sentences for six killings which included a Galesburg man has asked a Missouri judge to move his next murder trial.
Thirty-six-year-old Nicholas Sheley appeared in court Monday afternoon in Jefferson County south of St. Louis. His public defenders argued that Sheley can’t get a fair trial there on charges related to the deaths of an Arkansas couple during an alleged two-state killing spree over seven years ago. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if he’s convicted in the killings of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, Arkansas.
Police say the couple was attacked outside a Festus hotel after leaving a 2008 graduation party.
Sheley was extradited from Illinois to Missouri in February. Unlike in Illinois, offenders can be sentenced to death in neighboring Missouri.
