SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A Decatur woman convicted of killing her 19-month-old son in 2019 has not been granted a retrial by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Jessica Logan was sentenced to 33 years in prison for murdering her 19-month-old son in October of 2019. Logan believes the actions of investigators should have constituted a retrial in Macon County.
Assistant Appellate Defender Gilbert Lenz told Supreme Court justices in January that Logan deserves a new trial because law enforcement and a DCFS investigator never read her Miranda rights before they had Logan reenact her son's death in his bedroom.
"By that point in time, Jessica had already made it clear to law enforcement that she did not want to participate in this reenactment," Lenz said. "And she merely acquiesced in the request for the reenactment because she was told that she needed to do so by DCFS investigator Tate."
The Illinois Attorney General's office argued that a violation of Miranda rights does not violate the constitution. Assistant Attorney General Josh Schneider stressed that Logan was free to decline participation in the reenactment.
"This sort of colloquial use of need is a communication of the investigative agency's duty to inquire and investigate," Schneider said. "It is not a communication of you, the person that I'm talking to, have a legal obligation to comply."
The state supreme court found that while a Miranda violation did occur in the case, it was not a structural error and the "remaining evidence of Logan's guilt was overwhelming."
Logan is currently held in the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois. Her expected parole date is in 2052.
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