Ruling On New Trial For Convicted Murderer Yang Expected In Spring: Report

LAKE COUNTY, IL — For the past seven years, the lawyer for convicted murderer Marni Yang has been attempting to get a new trial for his client, arguing new evidence proves her innocence from the 2007 crime that put her behind bars. Following a three-day evidentiary hearing that concluded Wednesday, Jed Stone and Yang will need to wait until at least the spring to see if that will happen.

Yang, 58, is serving two life sentences for the murder of Deerfield resident Rhoni Reuter and her unborn child. She was convicted of first-degree murder and intentional homicide in 2011.

Reuter was the girlfriend of former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle at the time of her death. Gayle, who played on the 1985 Super Bowl championship team, testified during Yang's trial that he was romantically involved with both women, admitting he had sex with Yang the night before Reuter's death.

Reuter, aged 42 at the time of her death and seven months pregnant with Gayle's baby, was found dead on the kitchen floor of her Deerfield apartment. According to authorities, she had been shot by Yang multiple times at point-blank range with a 9mm handgun. There were no signs of robbery or forced entry at the crime scene.

Yang, who appeared in the Lake County Courthouse for this week's proceedings, is currently incarcerated in the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.

In 2019, Stone filed a post-conviction petition for Yang which the lawyer said includes more than 750 pages of newly released expert reports, images, DNA results and forensic testing of the evidence used at trial. Since that filing, additional new evidence, experts, and witnesses "have provided further proof of Yang's innocence," according to her lawyer. In 2024, Judge Christopher Stride ruled in favor of Yang getting an evidentiary hearing.

On Wednesday, Stride set a ruling date for May 15 to determine if Yang will get a new trial, reports the Chicago Tribune. According to the newspaper, among the arguments Stone made in his client's defense that he says prove her innocence, which were also provided to Patch pre-trial, is that the evidence concludes the shooter had to be taller than the 5-foot Yang.

The Chicago Tribune also reported Stone talked about how Gayle had implicated himself in the murder on the day of the crime at a barbershop, and painted him as a suspect in the defense's closing arguments.

Jason Humke representing the Lake County Assistant State's Attorney's Office, pushed back on these and other claims, according to the report. Prosecutors also argued the new evidence shared in the hearing didn't warrant a new trial and isn't "conclusive enough" to throw out the jury's verdict from the original trial, reports the Chicago Tribune.

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