A state appeals court upheld the conviction of a homeless man who killed a companion by beating him and placing his body on railroad tracks in Hainesville.
The Illinois Appellate Court for the 2nd District denied Gary Matney’s challenge to his conviction for killing his friend Ronald Pecore in July 1995.
“We are obviously pleased that the verdict was upheld,” said Lake County State’s Atty. Michael Waller. “It was a difficult case. There were some unusual circumstances.”
Matney, who is serving a 45-year prison term, challenged his conviction on three grounds, arguing that he received ineffective counsel from his attorney, that the trial court erred in giving jury instructions and in denying his motion to suppress certain statements.
The statement Matney most wanted suppressed was his own confession. He claimed brain injuries he had suffered in the past, coupled with his low intelligence and intoxication during police questioning, rendered him incapable of understanding his Miranda rights.
But the appellate court denied his claim, citing police testimony that while Matney was under the influence of alcohol during questioning, he appeared lucid and understood his rights.
Matney next claimed that the jury was prejudiced by the trial court’s decision to give jury instructions regarding the defendant’s failure to testify. Again, the appellate court wasn’t buying.
“Even if we were to assume that the giving of the instruction over defendant’s objection was error, we fail to see how defendant was prejudiced in this case,” Justice Lawrence Inglis wrote for the court. “We cannot say that, if it were error, the error contributed to defendant’s conviction.”
Matney also claimed–unsuccessfully–that he received ineffective assistance of counsel.
“We conclude that there is no reasonable probability that, absent trial counsel’s alleged deficiency, the jury would have found otherwise,” Inglis wrote. “Defendant confessed that he killed the victim. His confession was corroborated by other evidence introduced at trial.”
Matney was convicted in January 1996 of first-degree murder for beating Pecore during a drunken rage and dragging him to the railroad tracks to be killed.
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According to testimony at trial, Matney and Pecore had been friends for years. At the time of the incident, the two lived in Hainesville at a campsite used by the homeless, just east of Illinois Highway 134.
Police said that as Pecore was preparing to leave the campground to go fishing, a drunken Matney started a fight.
After beating Pecore, police said Matney dragged his unconscious friend to the tracks and placed Pecore’s head carefully on a rail.
Matney placed a large white bucket in front of Pecore’s head to hide it from engineers in an oncoming train, which struck the body, authorities said.
During the trial, Matney’s mother, Genevieve Webb, testified to a 10-year affair with Pecore. Prosecutors argued that Matney became enraged when he heard that Pecore planned to tell Webb’s husband–Matney’s stepfather–about the relationship.