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Marni Yang, the woman convicted for the murder of former Chicago Bears safety Shaun Gayle’s pregnant girlfriend in 2011 now says he confession was coerced.
Gayle, a member of the Bears’ 1985 Super Bowl winning championship team, was in a relationship with Rhoni Reuter in 2011 when she was shot and killed on October 4, 2007.
Reuter was seven months pregnant with Gayle’s child at the time of the murder.
In 2009, Yang, who was also in a relationship with Shaun Gayle in 2007, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In 2011, she was convicted of the crime and was given a mandatory life sentence.
On Monday, Yang was back in court requesting a new trial, claiming in addition to her confession being coerced, forensic evidence such as fingerprints shows she is innocent.
Marni Yang claimed in a 2022 interview that she “made up everything” in her confession because she was trying to protect her children. She said police threatened to arrest her son for the murder of Rhoni Reuter if she did not confess.
In 2021, the Chicago Tribune reported that Yang claimed she knew she was being recorded when she made her confession to a friend who was wearing a wire.
Yang claimed she only made up the confession to draw police attention away from her son. She has also previously claimed that she told her father in a recorded phone call that she planned to lie about the murder for that same reason.
This week, Yang’s attorney Jed Stone said, “They’re going to say science proves she could not have committed this crime and the evidence points to another suspect.”
During the proceedings, ABC 7 News reports, Judge Christopher Stride agreed to allow a rehearing on several pieces of evidence.
Prosecutor Jason Humke disagreed with the ruling.
Despite that, the judge scheduled another hearing where he will render his decision as to whether the court will reconsider Yang’s confession and the forensic evidence.
In 2020, Yang’s attorney Jed Stone called into question Shaun Gayle’s alibi at the time of Rhoni Reuter’s murder. Police, however, said they never considered him a suspect.
Yang, on the other hand, according to court documents, purchased a two-volume book set called “How to Make a Disposable Silencer” and then bought the materials at Home Depot shortly before Reuter was gunned down.
The next hearing in the case will take place on Jan. 22.