A defense expert witness testified Monday that Marni Yang is too short to have fired the bullets that killed the pregnant girlfriend of a former Chicago Bear in 2007.
Arthur Borchers, a forensic expert, testified in Lake County Court that bullet trajectory analysis excluded Yang as the killer of Rhoni Reuter, who was shot to death in October 2007 at her Deerfield condominium.
Yang was convicted of Reuter’s first-degree murder in 2011 and is serving a life sentence. However, her attorney has successfully argued that new evidence supports Yang’s claim of innocence.
Lake County Judge Christopher Stride has set aside three days this week to hear the new evidence claim.
Borchers, who worked as an evidence technician for the Oak Park Police Department before joining a private forensics company, was the sole witness Monday morning as the hearing began, telling that court that Yang, who is 5 feet tall, could not be the shooter based on the path the bullets that hit Reuter, who was pregnant with the child of former Bear Shaun Gayle.
“We believe the shooter involved in this incident is 5-foot, 10-inches, give or take two inches,” Borchers testified.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Hoffert spent much of his cross-examination of Borchers pointing to possible alternate scenarios, given the dynamic situation of the shooting.
Reuter was shot multiple times at the threshold and inside the kitchen of her condo.
At Yang’s trial, authorities asserted that Yang, who had previously been involved with Gayle, killed Reuter out of jealousy.
Yang listened intently to Borchers during his court appearance.
