CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - An Illinois man has been found not guilty in a southeast Missouri killing.
The Southeast Missourian (http://bit.ly/oC3f8d ) reports that jurors deliberated for two hours Thursday before finding Thomas Evans Jr. not guilty in the June 2010 shooting death of 44-year-old Matthew Ervin of Cape Girardeau.
A key issue was Evans' confession to detectives. Defense attorney Daniel Moore argued the confession was coerced because Evans was led to believe that he would be set free if he admitted shooting Ervin in self-defense. Cape Girardeau Major Case Squad officer Jeremy Weadon testified that he and another officer had offered scenarios for Evans to confess to, and the self-defense story was among them.
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Information from: Southeast Missourian, http://www.semissourian.com