People v. Silvestri

Following a bench trial in July 1985, defendant Ilio Silvestri was convicted of the 1976 murder of his wife, Delores, after the court found defendant had hired another man, Michael Balls, to perform the killing. The trial court sentenced defendant to a term of 35 years. (Eight years earlier, Balls was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to 150 to 300 years. That conviction was affirmed by this court. (People v. Balls (1981), 95 Ill. App. 3d 70, 419 N.E.2d 571).) On appeal, defendant contends that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the trial court committed…