On day five of the Nicholas Sheley, Whiteside County murder trial, officials announced the end was near. The prosecution is getting near the bottom of their witness list and closing arguments have been scheduled for Tuesday, November 6, 2012.
Even though the trial is winding down, Friday's last witness to take the stand brought some of the most shocking testimony yet.
The final witness of the day was Josh Sheley's former attorney, Janet Buttron. Josh Sheley is Nicholas Sheley's brother. He was charged with concealment of a homicide in the Russell Reed case and was found not guilty after his attorney received a hand-written letter, allegedly from Nicholas Sheley.
Buttron says Nicholas Sheley wrote and mailed her a letter back in 2009. The letter, intended to help relieve her client of some very serious charges. Burton read that letter out loud in the courtroom on Friday.
The letter began; "To whom it may concern, I Nicholas Troy Sheley hereby swear that the statement I'm about to write is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God."
In the letter Sheley allegedly wrote, he says his brother had no direct knowledge or details of the crimes he's accused of committing. "Nor did he knowingly attempt to cover up anything with or for me."
The letter says Josh Sheley is "absolutely not guilty of the crimes he has been charged with."
But in the most explosive line of the letter, allegedly written by Nicholas Sheley, he admits guilt.
"I fully intend on pleading guilty to my charges because I know exactly what has taken place and, in fact, I do indeed know what I've done."
The letter was admitted as evidence in Josh Sheley's trial back in 2009. Josh was ultimately found not guilty of his charges. and that letter is now surfacing as part of the prosecution's case in Whiteside County.
Nicholas Sheley has already been convicted in Knox County court for the murder of a Galesburg man. Sheley is charged with the murders of 8 people during a 2008 killing spree.
Photo courtesy of Sauk Valley Media
