A LaSalle County judge says the delays are starting to get irritating, but he granted another this morning in the bow-and-arrow murder retrial for Bradley French. French’s lawyer, Maureen Williams, says she’s having trouble getting in touch with a witness who has moved to Florida since the first trial in 2016. She describes the woman as the most important witness in the case and says she isn’t returning calls. Williams is also having trouble getting in touch with her 29-year old client’s previous lawyer to get his file on the case.
Judge H. Chris Ryan reluctantly decided not to start jury selection next week as was scheduled. Ryan noted the state has a long list of witnesses to coordinate and prosecutor Matt Kidder said he’s ready to go. Ryan told Williams she’ll probably have to have an out-of-state subpoena for the witness and it’s likely to take a long time. He also suggested she drive to French’s previous lawyer’s office or try to catch him in court.
French is accused of killing 38-year old Joshua Scaman in Oglesby, he claims in self-defense, in 2015. A jury convicted him of murder the next year. The appellate court in Ottawa overturned the verdict and sent the case back to the circuit court. The appellate judges said French should have been allowed to assert his self-defense claim more vigorously than he was permitted in his first trial.
Since his self-defense claim will be stronger, prosecutor Matt Kidder asked today to introduce more photographs as evidence. They show Scaman’s wounds and how the razor-tipped arrow cut his shirt. The evidence would be used to support the prosecution argument that French went out intending to find trouble and wasn’t just defending himself or anyone else from an attacker who’d been harassing a woman French knew.