Public defender David Hansen this week filed a notice of appeal for a Knox County woman convicted of murdering the former police chief of Maquon.
At a June bench trial, Marcy L. Oglesby, 53, was found guilty of poisoning Richard Young with eye drops, then hiding his body in a storage unit across the street from the couple’s Maquon home.
Judge Andrew Doyle sentenced Oglesby to 50 years in prison.
The defense’s notice of appeal was filed after Circuit Judge Andrew Doyle last week denied the defense’s post-trial motions for a new trial and to reconsider Oglesby’s sentence.
Oglesby’s public defenders had argued the state did not prove a reliable or medically certain cause of death, that evidence including financial records and Facebook messages should not have been entered, and that the sentence was excessive.
They also claimed there was a conflict of interest because Knox County State’s Attorney Ashley Worby worked in the public defender’s office while the case was active, and that the testimony of the state’s key witness was inconsistent.
But Worby argued the defense raised no meritorious claims, and Doyle denied the motions.
Worby said toxicologists testified that tetrahydrozoline – the active ingredient in over-the-counter eye drops – was detected in Young’s remains, and that ingestion of tetrahydrozoline can be fatal.
Worby said the financial records and Facebook messages showed motive, and that she didn’t view confidential information about the case when she worked in the public defender’s office. She also said the defense had the opportunity to cross-examine witness Karen Doubet.
Oglesby is appealing her conviction, her sentence, and the denial of the post-trial motions. She will be appointed an appellate public defender.
This is the second time the case has reached the 4th District Appellate Court.
Oglesby was initially charged with concealment of a death following the discovery of Young’s remains in October 2022. As the investigation progressed, charges were upgraded in February 2023 to murder, concealment of a homicide, and aggravated battery with a toxic substance.
In March 2023, Judge Doyle granted a defense motion to dismiss the murder charges over speedy trial concerns. But the appellate court reinstated the murder charges later that year.
At trial, Worby called the case “a tale of olden times” – a financially motivated murder with a love triangle. She presented evidence that Oglesby was in an online relationship with a man from Nigeria when she began putting eye drops and other medication in Young’s food and drink.
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