CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court on Friday overturned the convictions of a man who was serving an 84-year sentence in the 2013 shooting death of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old honors student and a majorette who had performed at then-President Barack Obama’s second inauguration days before she was killed.
Micheail Ward was convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery following a lengthy jury trial in 2018.
The appeals court ruled that the trial judge should have thrown out statements Ward made to Chicago police detectives that implicated himself, finding that detectives continued to question him after he invoked his right to remain silent.
