Two men charged in murder-for-hire scheme make first court appearance
MADISON COUNTY, Il. (First Alert 4) - Two of the men charged in the murder-for-hire scheme that killed Portia Rowland appeared in court on Tuesday.
Rowland, 32, was shot and killed on the morning of Tuesday, January 21. Investigators said she was warming up her car outside her home on Olive Street when she was fatally shot.
Monday, Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas Haine announced charges against Sammy J. Shafer, Jr., Gary D. Johnson and Marty Shaw. Charging documents accuse Shafer of hiring Shaw and Johnson for the murder. Shafer is reportedly married to Rowland’s girlfriend.
Charging documents accuse Shafer of paying $10,000 for the murder. Johnson is the accused gunman, and Shaw reportedly gave him a ride the day of the murder.
On Tuesday Shafer and Johnson had their initial court appearances at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center in Edwardsville.
Shafer is facing two charges of first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation/murder-for-hire. On Tuesday he walked into the courtroom with shackles around his wrists and ankles.
The state is asking for Shafer to be jailed throughout the trial but his attorney, Scott Rosenblum, pushed for the detention hearing to be moved to next week so he can take more time to look at the evidence.
“We look forward obviously to entering a plea of not guilty and challenging that evidence,” Rosenblum said. “I’m realistic. Just the charges itself and my experience in this county. It’s expected that would be the state’s position. We’ll see.”
Shafer’s parents were in the courtroom on Tuesday to him.
Shaw is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Shaw was arrested in St. Louis County and is in jail there. First Alert 4 was told the extradition process to bring him to the Metro East would take several days.
Johnson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of being in possession of a weapon. The state also asking for Johnson to be jailed throughout the trial. In court on Tuesday, Johnson waived his detention hearing which means he will remain behind bars.
First Alert 4 learned Johnson was previously convicted of a 1997 murder, where he beat another man to death with a concrete block and then burned his body. Johnson was released in 2017 after serving 20 years of his 40 year sentence.
Shafer’s detention hearing will be on February 5th and Johnson’s preliminary hearing will be on February 7th.
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