Court Denies Appeal of Man Convicted in 2004 Shooting Death of Warrenville Teen

An Illinois court has denied an appeal by a 30-year-old man convicted in the shooting death of his former girlfriend, 17-year-old Sade Glover of Warrenville, in 2004.

The Second District Appellate Court of Illinois on Monday denied an appeal by Joshua Matthews of Maywood who was convicted in 2011 of first-degree murder for pulling a gun on Glover following a brief altercation in her driveway on Oct. 9, 2004. He shot the teen five times.

A judge sentenced him to 100 years in prison in February 2011, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office press release.

In his appeal, Matthews argued the court was wrong to deny his request to withdraw his waiver of counsel. He also argued the court imposed “a significant change in the circumstances of his self-representation,” according to the news release.

Those circumstances involved his phone privileges while at the DuPage County Jail.

The Appellate Court ruled Matthews “was unhappy with the trial court’s decision to change his phone privileges” and that he “tried to manipulate the court into restoring unlimited phone privileges, according to the news release.

Matthews’ appeal also claimed that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his confession. The Appellate Court also rejected this claim.

“I would like to thank the Appellate Court for their extremely thorough and detailed review of this case and for seeing through Mr. Matthews’ attempt to avoid responsibility for the murder of Sade Glover,” said DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin in the press release. “With the Appellate Court’s decision the final chapter of this senseless murder has been written. It is my sincerest hope that Sade Glover’s family and friends will now be able to go forward with their lives knowing that Mr. Matthews will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Justice Jorgensen delivered the judgment of the Court with Justices Schostok and Hudson concurring.