Convicted murderer Marni Yang returns to court over new evidence

LAKE COUNTY, Ill. - The woman convicted of killing the pregnant girlfriend of a former Chicago Bear in 2007 was back in court on Monday.

Marni Yang and her attorney, Jed Stone, appeared in court to argue her post-conviction position.

Stone says the state is ignoring newly discovered evidence that points to a different suspect in the killing of Rhoni Reuter.

Yang is serving two life sentences for killing Reuter and her unborn child, in a case that drew national attention.

Reuter was seven months pregnant when she was gunned down in her Deerfield home in 2007. She was carrying the baby of former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle, whom she’d been dating for years.

In 2011, a jury took only three hours to convict Yang of killing Reuter and her unborn child.

In 2019, Stone filed a post-conviction petition for Yang that contained over 750 pages of newly released expert reports, images, DNA results and forensic testing of evidence that was used at the 2011 trial.

Since that filing, Stone says there is new additional evidence. He also claims that witnesses and experts have provided proof that Yang is innocent.

The defense attorney's office says the judge will decide which evidence will be allowed on January 22.