Panel orders new murder trial over lack of instructions to jury

By Jordyn Reiland jreiland@lawbulletinmedia.com

Posted February 5, 2020 11:28 AM

Jurors deciding whether to find a man guilty of first-degree murder after he shot someone with a bow-and-arrow during an argument should have been given a jury instruction on self-defense, a state appellate panel held.Bradley French was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatally shooting Joshua Scaman with an arrow in June 2015 in the Illinois Valley Community College parking lot in Oglesby.Jurors had the option to find French guilty of second-degree murder but Circuit Judge Howard C. Ryan Jr. declined to …

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