PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – A woman who claimed self-defense in the stabbing death of another woman seven years ago is now going free after a retrial in Peoria County.
25 News reports that a jury on Friday deliberated around two and a half hours before finding Sheyanah Lee not guilty of murder for the death of Markesha Jeffries during a fight in November 2018.
Jeffries died from a stab wound to the groin, injuring the femoral artery and causing massive blood loss, according to a court document.
A higher court back in 2023 ordered a new trial for Lee, who is now 38, after she appealed her conviction and a 50-year sentence. Lee claimed Judge John Vespa’s sentence was excessive and her lawyer provided ineffective assistance.
Lee’s attorney at her first trial did not object to prosecutors showing the jury a two-minute video from an officer’s bodycam showing “only Markesha dying.”
“She struggled to maintain consciousness as she continued to bleed and while her family members made emotionally charged pleas for help,” court records said.
“Despite the State’s disingenuous claims to the contrary on appeal, the remainder of the footage did not add anything tending to prove that Sheyanah committed first-degree murder,” the justices’ opinion said.
They went on to say “Sheyanah was unfairly prejudiced by trial counsel’s deficient performance.”
At her sentencing in July 2020, Lee said her biggest regret was using a knife to defend herself instead of just trying to walk away.
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