Convicted Murderer Of Ex-Bear's Girlfriend, Baby Innocent: Lawyer

WAUKEGAN, IL — The lawyer for a woman sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2007 murder of the pregnant girlfriend of a former Chicago Bears player said Monday he has uncovered new evidence of her innocence.

Marni Yang, now 51, was arrested in 2009 and convicted in 2011 of the murder of Rhoni Reuter, 42, and the intentional homicide of her unborn child in her Deerfield condo.

A jury was told Yang shot Reuter six times, with two bullets striking the fetus. Yang is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole at Logan Correctional Center.

Prosecutors said the murder was premeditated and motivated by jealousy. Former Bears safety Shawn Gayle, a member of the 1985 Super Bowl-winning team, testified he was romantically involved with both women at the time, admitting he had sex with Yang the night before Reuter's death.

Prosecutors argued Yang "executed" Reuter at her Deerfield condo on Oct. 4, 2007, because she wanted to "eliminate the competition" after learning the other woman was pregnant with Gayle's child.

The judge in the case said Yang murdered Reuter in a "methodical, meticulous and maniacal manner." Jurors were told evidence from Yang's computer showed she had searched for information about Reuter and mapped out the way to Reuter's house. Investigators and witnesses said Yang had bought a book on making homemade silencers, and detectives found parts that were used in the shooting at her house, according to prosecutors.

In 2014, criminal defense attorney Jed Stone, who has been handling Yang's appeals, requested and received permission from a Lake County judge to carry out new DNA tests on the shell casings of bullets found at the scene of the killing.

Stone now says he has new evidence that could set Yang free, the Lake County News-Sun reported. The Waukegan-based lawyer attorney told the paper he believes Yang did not murder Reuter and that he is preparing to file a post-conviction petition asserting her innocence.

Stone told the Daily Herald he expected to file the request for a retrial by June. He explained he believed there was "substantial evidence of actual innocence," despite a taped confession recorded in an Arlington Heights Denny's by a friend — the self-described psychic Christi Paschen.

Paschen, who admitted helping Yang conceal evidence, testified she had been recruited by the military for a special psychic intelligence program. On her final mission, she said, the entire unit was killed by terrorists in the Middle East except for her, and some of her memories were "erased."

Yang described the killing to Paschen, who was wearing a wire on behalf of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. Yang told her friend that Reuter "started screaming."

"I took the first shot. I remember screaming. 'Cause at that point, I realized we are now at the point of no return," she said, according to audio played for jurors. Stone told the Daily Herald the "full story" behind the statement had not been publicly revealed, he has not responded to a request for comment.

"Any thoughts that we had about turning back — we gotta finish this now. And I just started emptying the clip," Yang said on the tape played at trial. "All she was doing was screaming until she went down, and then when she went down she took her foot and she took one good kick at me, got me in the shin. Um, it was like weak by that time so 'Uh,' like that. And that was it. I just, I, took one last shot, in the head."

Earlier:

• Marni Yang Admits Murder of Rhoni Reuter
• Neighbors of Deerfield Murder Victim Testify in Yang Trial
  
• What $40M Judgment Means to Reuter Family
• Deerfield Cops Star in Dateline, 20/20 Series