Crime & Safety

Defense Rests in Murder Trial without Testimony From Yang

Closing arguments set to begin in court at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The defense rested Monday without Marni Yang taking the stand.

The 43-year-old is on trial for first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child. She’s accused of shooting and killing 42-year-old Rhoni Reuter at her Deerfield condo back in 2007. At the time Reuter was six months pregnant with the child of former Bears player Shaun Gayle. Prosecutors say Yang was obsessed with Gayle and wanted to "eliminate the competition."

Before the defense rested Monday, Yang’s lawyers called three witnesses including Yang’s mother, a Deerfield neighbor of Reuter and an assistant commander with the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. 

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Yang’s mother, Francine Merar, of Niles confirmed that her daughter had dropped off a case of guns at her house back in July of 2007 after inheriting them from a deceased family member in Florida. “They were put on my shelf,” she said and “had never been touched” again until police issued a search warrant in 2009. 

The defense called Lois Armstrong, one of Reuter’s neighbors at the time of the murder, as its second witness. Armstrong told jurors she heard “two bangs” the morning of Oct. 4, 2007 but wasn’t alarmed. “Were they loud?” Yang’s lawyers asked, “Yes,” she replied.

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Finally, Detective Charles Schletz with the Waukegan Police Department was asked to take the stand. The defense grilled Schletz on some discrepancies in his reports. Yang’s lawyers claim the detective inaccurately transcribed some of Christi Paschen’s confessions to authorities. Last week in court Paschen told jurors her best friend, Yang, admitted the murder to her. 

After approximately 15 minutes of testimony the defense ended with several stipulations including records that showed Paschen had never been in the military like she previously claimed. They also said Yang’s fingerprints did not match those found on the doorknob of Rhoni Reuter’s condo.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, jury deliberations will follow. 


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