Murder charges have been reinstated for a Maquon woman accused of poisoning the village’s police chief with eye drops.
The 4th District Appellate Court issued a ruling Tuesday reinstating the charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a toxic substance for Marcy L. Oglesby, 51, in the death of Richard Young.
Knox County State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin said in a release the Appellate Court’s ruling means his office can proceed in prosecuting Oglesby on those charges.
Oglesby was initially charged with concealment of a death, after Young’s remains were found in a Maquon storage unit on Oct. 7, 2022.
The Knox County State’s Attorney’s Office filed amended charges of murder, concealment of a homicidal death and aggravated battery in February, as the investigation advanced.
Then in March, Ninth Circuit Judge Andrew Doyle dismissed the amended charges on a defense motion that Oglesby’s constitutional right to a speedy trial was being violated.
In dismissing the amended charges, Doyle invoked the compulsory joinder statute, which says multiple charges must be joined in a single prosecution when the charges are based on the same act and are known to prosecutors when prosecution begins.
But the Appellate Court ruled the charges were not required to be filed at the same time because they were not part of the same act or action by the defendant.
"Specifically, Oglesby’s alleged poisoning of Richard Young was an entirely different act than hiding his remains in a storage unit. Therefore, compulsory joinder did not apply and Oglesby’s speedy trial rights were not violated,” Karlin said in the release.
Oglesby was released from the Knox County jail on her own recognizance in May.
A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2024.
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