Judge: Ill. double murder suspect's statements admissible

JOLIET, Ill. - A judge on Thursday ruled that statements a man accused in the grisly murders of two Joliet, Ill. men allegedly made to police without an attorney present may be used against him, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Joshua Miner, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the January 2013 strangling deaths of Eric Glover and Terrance Rankins, both 22, who were lured to a house, killed and robbed of money and drugs, according to prosecutors.

Miner's attorney, Lea Norbut, argued in court Thursday that Miner's alleged statements to police about the murders should be suppressed because has was not provided an attorney after inquiring about having one, reports the paper.

Will County Assistant State's Attorney John Connor reportedly argued that Miner waived his right to an attorney and willingly spoke to police.

Miner and three others charged in the slayings are white and the victims were black.

Prosecutors last month dropped a first-degree murder charge against Alisa Massaro, 20, in exchange for her pleading guilty to lesser charges of robbery and concealing a homicide. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and agreed to testify against the three other defendants. Adam Landerman, 20, and Bethany McKee, 19, are also charged with murder stemming from the killings.

Glover and Rankins were killed at Massaro's father's house, but prosecutors said that, while Massaro was in the house, she did not take part in killing them.

A trial for McKee is set to begin July 21.

Also on July 21, attorneys will likely learn the results of Miner's sanity evaluation. He previously passed an evaluation to determine his fitness to stand trial, but Miner's attorney Michael Renzi said that was only to determine his ability to cooperate with attorneys, reports the paper.