Bradley French’s lawyer had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t be in court for a hearing today in the bow-and-arrow murder case. Judge H. Chris Ryan rescheduled it to next Friday.
The 28-year old French is accused of killing 38-year old Joshua Scaman of Oglesby by shooting him with a razor-tipped arrow in the Illinois Valley Community College parking lot in 2015. Testimony at French’s first trial said Scaman had been harassing a woman French knew.
Prosecutors said French went out looking for trouble and found it, otherwise he wouldn’t have put a loaded compound bow in his car for a long trip. An appellate court opinion tossed a 30-year prison sentence and sent the case back for retrial on a finding that the judge severely limited French’s self-defense claim.
For now, the retrial hasn’t been scheduled.