New trial ordered for Ill. man in girl's death
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 6:18 p.m.
Read more: Local, Crime, Community, Child, Death, Macomb
MACOMB, ILL. (AP) -- MACOMB, Ill. (AP) - An appeals court has ordered a new trial for a western Illinois man convicted of killing a five-year-old girl
who was in his care. The Third District Appellate Court vacated the conviction of 31-year-old Daniel Belknap of Macomb. No new trial date has been set. The appeals court ruled that the judge in the case didn't properly question jurors before the trial.
In 2008, McDonough County jurors convicted Belknap of first-degree murder in the death of Silven Yocum, who died after more than a week in a coma. An autopsy found bruises on her head, back, shoulder, right ankle and foot.
Belknap had been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Yocum's mother, who dated Belknap, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
