News about the manhunt for Michael Bakana the man missing from his jury trial on murder charges made it into the courtroom Tuesday as several potential jurors disclosed what they had heard about the search.
Authorities are searching for a McLean County man who failed to show up for his murder trial on Monday morning. Police say he should be considered "armed and dangerous."
Eric Stock / WGLT
McLean County prosecutors call it an unprecedented time in their office.
They have tried 10 murder defendants in less than two years. The last nine defendants were convicted. McLean County State s Attorney Don Knapp said he hopes the convictions have a chilling effect on crime in Bloomington-Normal.
“If people haven’t figured out what happens to folks that want to use violence and usually illegal guns to settle disputes, I don’t know how much plainer we can make it,” Knapp said.
Knapp called a news conference Tuesday and assembled his prosecutors who tried those cases and local police who investigated the cases to detail how they have managed the multitude of high-profile murders.
The number of felony methamphetamine cases in McLean County continued its multiyear rise last year.
Felony drug cases in McLean County rose by 32% last year to a record high, though the five-year trend is not as stark as the one-year jump. State s Attorney Don Knapp said a lot of the increase came from methamphetamine offenses. Judge (William)Yoder has said, I ve seen more cases in my courtroom in the last year than in the 12 years I was state s attorney, said Knapp.
Meth cases accounted for 40% of all drug felonies last year in McLean County. Five years ago, the figure was 10%.
A former Bloomington college student who faced decades in prison for dealing drugs on campus will have to wait for the public records of his offenses to be sealed, a judge ruled on Friday.
Tanner Tattini was a freshman at Illinois Wesleyan University in 2015 when he was charged with dealing drugs near a school. The 19-year-old student was arrested after he sold cocaine to an undercover officer near the Illinois State University campus.
Joshua Rinker, defense lawyer for Tanner Tattini, asked a judge to approve a request to seal the public records related to Tattini’s case.
Rinker argued that Tattini, now 24, has done everything required of him to qualify for closing the records to public view. The closure is intended to provide ex-offenders a path to employment and other opportunities frequently blocked when information about convictions is easily available, said Rinker.