Adeyooye - Wallace pleads guilty to murder
Indigo Ace
Wallace pleads guilty to murder
By Brett Nauman
bnauman;@pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON -- Maurice Wallace was sentenced to life in prison Friday
after he pleaded guilty to murdering an Illinois State University
student last year.
Wallace, in a move that surprised prosecutors and went against the
wishes of his attorneys, pleaded guilty to all the charges against him
Friday during a hearing in McLean County Circuit Court.
Judge Scott Drazewski sentenced him to life in prison for the murder
of 21-year-old Illinois State University student Olamide Adeyooye.
Wallace also will have to serve a 50-year consecutive sentence for
attacking a correctional officer at the county jail May 28 as he
awaited trial in the Adeyooye slaying.
Prosecutors had said the 27-year-old man wanted to kill someone so he
could become a martyr and have his name in the news, but he gave no
clear indication why he suddenly pleaded guilty to the charges.
Wallace shook his head as Drazewski told him he had the right to be
tried by a jury of 12 citizens. He said any trial essentially would be
a “circus.”
Attorneys initially thought Wallace would plead guilty just to the
attempted murder of correctional officer Olivia Anglin during Friday’s
hearing.
Wallace was in the process of doing that when his erratic courtroom
antics led Drazewski to remove him from the courtroom after he
referred to the judge as “Scott.” He had been removed from the
courtroom in previous hearings because of misbehavior.
The hearing then was delayed for more than an hour while the judge,
prosecutors and Wallace’s defense attorneys met privately in chambers.
When the hearing resumed, Wallace said he wanted to plead guilty to
all the charges against him in four separate criminal cases.
Assistant Public Defender Brian McEldowney said he tried to persuade
Wallace against pleading guilty, but that his client wouldn’t take his
advice.
“There were plea negotiations taking place that would have resulted in
many of these charges being dismissed,” McEldowney said. “But Mr.
Wallace wanted to plead guilty to everything, and that’s what took
place.”
When asked about Wallace’s motive for pleading, McEldowney said: “I
can only assume he wanted to accept responsibility for his actions. I
can only assume he wanted to move on and make amends with the victims
he harmed and spare them having to go through a trial.”
Anglin, who attended Friday’s hearing, had tears streaming down her
face as Wallace answered “yes” when asked if he wanted to plead guilty
to seven charges in the jail attack.
First Assistant State’s Attorney Kim Campbell said she was surprised
by Wallace’s guilty pleas on all counts. Still, she said she’s
confident he would’ve received the same sentence had the cases gone to
trial.
Wallace had to be removed from court one last time Friday as Campbell
laid out the evidence she would have presented against him at trial in
the attack on Anglin and murder of Adeyooye.
“This is nonsense,” Wallace exclaimed as Campbell began detailing his
plans for escape at the jail. “This is a circus. I’ve already copped
out to natural life plus 50 years. What else do you want? Jesus!”
Prosecutors believe Wallace killed Adeyooye Oct. 13 at her apartment
in Normal shortly after she rented movies at a local video store.
Campbell said Wallace’s fingerprint was found in Adeyooye’s apartment,
and that a blood trail leading to a parking lot indicates the ISU
student likely was dead when she was loaded into her car.
Adeyooye’s burned remains were found eight days after she disappeared
from the apartment in a burned down chicken house in rural
Mississippi.
Wallace later was arrested in Atlanta, Ga. Campbell said police
discovered Adeyooye’s blood on his jeans and several of her personal
items, including her car keys, in his possession.
Before his guilty plea had been finalized and before he had been
removed from the courtroom Friday, Drazewski asked Wallace if he
understood he’d spend the rest of his life in prison.
“Yeah. Can’t wait,” was his reply.
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/07/28/news/doc44ca9991002f5181574627.txt
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Indigo Ace
Man pleads guilty to murder in Illinois college student's death
By JAN DENNIS
Associated Press Writer
Published July 28, 2006, 7:31 PM CDT
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- A man prosecutors accused of wanting to kill to
get his name in the news and whose bizarre courtroom behavior included
profanity-laced outbursts that called his mental fitness into question
pleaded guilty Friday to killing an Illinois State University student
last year.
Maurice Wallace, 28, was in court on charges he tried to kill a McLean
County jail officer during an escape attempt as he awaited trial in
the death of Olamide Adeyooye, whose body was found in a burned-out
Mississippi chicken house in October eight days after she was last
seen.
But after being admonished by the judge and sent into an isolation
room to cool down, Wallace returned to plead guilty to all the charges
against him -- including first-degree murder, concealing a homicide,
attempted murder, aggravated battery, assault with a deadly weapon and
attempted escape.
He also agreed to a sentence of natural life plus 50 years in prison,
which was handed down Friday.
When McLean County Judge Scott Drazewski asked Wallace whether he
understood that his plea would keep him behind bars for the remainder
of his life, Wallace replied, "Yeah, can't wait."
Defense attorney Brian McEldowney noted that the plea agreement was
not a product of negotiations but "an embodiment of our client's
wishes." Wallace was unwilling to have any of the charges against him
dropped and agreed that the murder was brutal and heinous, bringing a
life sentence rather than the standard 20 to 60 years in prison.
"In fact, I insist," declared Wallace, who was ruled fit to stand
trial in both Adeyooye's murder and the jail attack.
Reached at his Maryland home Friday evening, Adeyooye's father,
Adiodun Adeyooye, declined to comment until he heard the news from an
attorney.
"At this point I cannot say anything to you," he said.
Wallace previously pleaded not guilty to charges he killed Adeyooye, a
21-year-old ISU senior whose disappearance prompted a nationwide
search. Drazewski told Wallace he has 30 days to withdraw the guilty
pleas, but he would have to cite errors, such as that he didn't make
the pleas willingly.
When the judge asked Wallace about whether he had been forced to sign
the plea agreement, he said "No, actually I just thought it wouldn't
be a wise idea to go any further considering the circumstances."
McEldowney said he knew Wallace intended Friday to plead guilty to the
attack on the jail officer, but not the other charges. He said he
advised Wallace against the pleas, but added that Wallace never had
taken his advice.
"Regardless of whether I think that is a wise thing to do or not, any
defendant has as much right to plead guilty as not guilty," McEldowney
said.
Prosecutor Kim Campbell said Friday that her office had spoken with
Adeyooye's family and with jail officer Olivia Anglin about the plea
agreement.
"I think they are very happy to have closure without having to go
through a long trial," Campbell said. "And the sentence that was
imposed should bring them a sense of peace and justice."
Anglin, who has not returned to work since the May 28 attack, agreed
after attending Friday's hearing.
"It's a blessing that he pleaded out today. That's what we've all been
waiting for ... him behind bars is what everyone needs," she said.
Prosecutors alleged Wallace, who lived on the same block as Adeyooye,
killed her in her apartment, then dumped her body in her car and drove
away.
Adeyooye's car keys were found in a rental car Wallace had when he was
arrested Oct. 20 in Atlanta on unrelated charges, according to
prosecutors. Authorities say the car belonging to Adeyooye, a native
of Nigeria who moved to the Chicago suburb of Berkeley when she was 8,
was later found abandoned in Atlanta.
Wallace's plea Friday also resolves those unrelated charges.
Last week, Drazewski denied Wallace's request to act as his own
attorney, citing past courtroom behavior. Wallace was handed a
three-month jail sentence for contempt in January after cursing at
Drazewski and interrupting during a routine court hearing.
Drazewski warned Wallace that he could not address the court directly
or he would be held in contempt again.
In the middle of pleading guilty to the escape charges Friday, Wallace
called the judge by his first name. Drazewski immediately recessed the
proceeding and ordered Wallace out of the courtroom, urging him to
collect his thoughts.
When the hearing resumed after more than an hour, Wallace's attorneys
announced the plea agreement resolving all the charges.
But Wallace did not remain in court for long. He interrupted while a
prosecutor read a probable cause statement, and Drazewski banished him
to an isolation cell in an adjoining courtroom to watch the final
steps.
"This is nonsense. This is a circus," Wallace said as he was led out
"I've already copped to natural life plus 50 ... what else do you
want?"
McEldowney told reporters he thinks Wallace changed his pleas to
accept responsibility, not because he feared he could not get a fair
trial.
"I would like to attribute to him the best of motives, so I am going
to assume he acknowledges that he's guilty and he wants to make amends
and move on with his life and spare the people that he harmed and
their families the need of a trial," McEldowney said.
A former roommate of Adeyooye's, 23-year-old Ashley Petrey, said the
plea deal would help take the spotlight off Wallace.
"It's not about him anymore, it's about Olamide," she said. "God
blessed us with this, saying, 'You don't have to do this anymore. It's
over.' We can start the process of grieving."
Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press
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