By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post
The Illinois Supreme Court will not intervene on behalf of a Knox County woman accused of murdering the former Maquon police chief.
In a ruling issued Jan. 24 in Springfield, the high court rejected a request from Marcy L. Oglesby to reverse a ruling that reinstated murder charges against her. The court didn’t provide any rationale regarding its decision, according to Knox County State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin.
Oglesby, 51, of Maquon was accused of poisoning Richard Young, then concealing his body in a storage unit.
A pre-trial hearing for Oglesby, who is not in custody, is set for March 4 in Galesburg. The case also might go to a jury trial in March, according to Karlin.
The Supreme Court decision ends the off-and-on nature regarding accusations of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery against Oglesby. The Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court reinstated those charges in November following an appeal from Karlin’s office.
In March 2023, Knox County Circuit Judge Andrew Doyle dismissed the murder and aggravated-battery charges. Oglesby’s defense argued those charges were filed more than 120 days after Oglesby was taken into custody, in October 2022. Such a delay would violate her right to a speedy trial, per state law.
But the appellate court ruled Oglesby’s alleged poisoning of Young was a different act than the alleged hiding of his remains.
That means they were not required to be filed at the same time as the original charge, concealment of a non-homicidal death. Prosecutors filed the additional charges one year ago.
“I am pleased that all the legal barriers to this case proceeding have been removed and that the errors committed at the trial level have been corrected,” Karlin stated.
Prosecutors allege Oglesby used eye drops and other medications to poison Young, then hid his body in the storage unit in Maquon. It remained there for almost a year and was discovered in October 2022 after neighbors complained about an odor.
Oglesby is scheduled to appear April 22 in Fulton County Circuit Court in Lewistown regarding a separate case, in which she is accused of passing bad checks.
