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Streator killer loses bid for reduced sentence · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Streeter killer loses bid for reduced sentence Written by Tom Collins,
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  This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  to you by Everlet. A Streeter killer serving an effective
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  life sentence Peril Date twenty one to seventeen struck out
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  Friday in his bid for a reduced prison time, but
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  Friday's denial carries a silver lining for Malcolm Whitfield. He
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  has exhausted his remedies at trial court and now is
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  eligible for appeal. Whitfield, thirty two, appeared in LaSalle County
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  Circuit Court on a motion to reconsider he was convicted
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  last year of first degree murder for the twenty twenty
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  three shooting death of Shakita Kelly, as well as felony
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  firearms offenses. Friday Public defender Ryan Hamer argued the jury
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  didn't sufficiently consider Whitfield's claim of self defense. Evidence that
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  trial demonstrates there were shots being fired at Whitfield. Hamer
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  said he was legitimately in fear for his life. Hamer
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  also asked for a reevaluation of the firearms offenses that
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  stretched Whitfield's prison time well passed his life expectancy. Whitfield
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  got sixty years for murdering Kelly, but he also was
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  ordered to serve a pair of twenty year sentences for
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  aggravated battery with a firearm. Those sentences all have to
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  be served back to back, partly because one of the
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  survivors was found to have suffered great bodily harm. Hamer
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  disputed the long term injuries, calling the survivor's wounds relatively
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  minor and the fact she was released from a hospital
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  the same day. In response, Assistant LaSalle County State's Attorney
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  Kelly Porter, said that the finding was appropriate given the
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  severity of the victim's injuries. She testified she still feels
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  pain in her leg to this day. Porter said, and
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  that the jury properly considered and rejected any claim of
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  self defense. Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Junior agreed and
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  threw out what Field's bid for relief, saying there were
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  no new arguments or evidence. What I've heard today is
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  I don't like my sentence. The judge ruled the case
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  now goes to the Third District Appellate Court.