Marni Yang’s attorney says he remains confident his client will eventually be cleared of murder, but remains uncertain what new evidence will be allowed in to a future hearing to prove that.
Yang’s conviction for the 2007 murder of Rhoni Reuter, the pregnant girlfriend of former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle, has made headlines for decades. During her trial, prosecutors argued it was a crime motivated by a romantic rivalry over Gayle.
After being sentenced to life in prison, Yang filed a petition in 2019 seeking a new trial and alleging her innocence.
Defense attorney Jed Stone said he and Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Humke agreed Monday’s hearing in Lake County Circuit Court was warranted to determine whether specific evidence should be allowed when Yang’s claim of innocence is argued at a future proceeding.
Yang’s father, Larry Merar, said his daughter is feeling “more confident now” about eventually proving her innocence.
“You can’t make the truth go away,” Merar said. “I’m very hopeful.”
Stone said Yang, who was present in the courtroom Monday, is “anxious” to have the new evidence in her case heard.
That evidence, the attorney said, includes affidavits from three people -— a former FBI agent, a forensic pathologist and a former medical examiner -— who will say, “science proves (Yang) didn’t do it, and science will point to another suspect.”
Humke countered that those affidavits are “not factual” and “insufficient.”
The other issues about which Stone is waiting on a ruling from Judge Christopher Stride includes evidence that Emily Yang, Marni Yang’s daughter, was coerced to testify for the prosecution when she was 16 years old.
Humke said the evidence surrounding Emily Yang’s testimony is not new, and the defense shouldn’t be allowed to regurgitate old information.
“Shame on you for suborning testimony from a 16-year-old child, and shame on the state today for saying that it didn’t make a difference,” Stone said after Monday’s hearing.
Additionally, Stone said grand jurors were mislead with false testimony about Gayle’s whereabouts the morning after the murder, and that Marni Yang’s taped confession to a friend, Christi Paschen, is unreliable. It was only given by Yang in response to her fear that police would arrest her son and charge him with Reuter’s killing, according to the defense.
Already agreed upon for consideration at a future hearing will be claims of innocence based on DNA evidence on shell casings, DNA found on a bracelet over a year after the slaying, testimony about the theft of the murder weapon and an affidavit from Gayle’s barber.
Stride set Marni Yang’s next hearing for Jan. 22, at which he is expected to further clarify what evidence will be allowed to be argued.