Defense: Judge slept during murder trial

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- The judge overseeing the murder trial of a man accused in the 2008 beating deaths of four people in northwest Illinois acknowledged Friday he had dozed off, then allowed court to resume.

The defense attorney for Nicholas Sheley pointed out after a lunch recess that Judge Jeffrey O'Connor had fallen asleep while a videotaped deposition played. Sheley is on trial in the slayings of two men, a woman and a 2-year-old boy who were beaten with a hammer in a Rock Falls apartment in June 2008. Their slayings are among eight that authorities allege Sheley committed in Illinois and Missouri over seven days.

Prosecutors on Friday showed the videotaped deposition of a worker at a Galesburg gasoline station who said he saw Sheley shaking and covered with blood on June 28, 2008.

Defense attorney Jeremy Karlin said he had noticed the judge sleeping while the tape was shown as well as on other occasions. Karlin said he wanted it in the court record. O'Connor acknowledged Karlin's observation but said he's able to preside over the trial.

Sheley has pleaded not guilty to killing 29-year-old Brock Branson; 20-year-old Kilynna Blake; her son, 2-year-old Dayan; and 25-year-old Kenneth Ulve. Prosecutors say he then went to the apartment in Rock Falls, first killing Ulve and then waiting for the others to return before attacking them.