People v. Reeves

PRESIDING JUSTICE CAHILL

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case comes to us after a second jury trial in which defendant Marvin Reeves was convicted of five counts of first degree murder and five counts of aggravated arson. He was sentenced to natural life without parole. Defendant’s first trial resulted in a guilty verdict, but on appeal we reversed his convictions and remanded for a new trial. We held then that defendant’s right to confront and cross-examine witnesses against him was violated by the admission, through the testimony of Willie Williams, of codefendant Ronald Kitchen’s…