The sentencing of convicted killer Mark Downs has been pushed back once again as defense attorneys work on filing post-trial motions alleging mistakes by the public defender during his 2009 murder trial.
Downs, 33, of Aurora, was convicted by a Kane County jury last year of firing the shots that killed Nico Contreras, 6, while he was sleeping at his grandmother’s house on the near East Side of Aurora in 1996.
Downs was indicted in the boy’s murder in 2007, more than a decade after Nico was killed.
He was scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 2, 2009. He faces up to 100 years in prison.
Prior to his sentencing, however, Downs made claims that his public defender, David Kliment, failed to properly question witnesses and denied Downs’ request to switch to a bench trial shortly after his jury trial began.
On Thursday, Downs appeared before Judge Timothy Sheldon.
His attorneys asked the judge to deny a request to have Downs held in Kane County until his next court date so he could receive medical treatment for his back in a Joliet prison.
Sheldon agreed to Down’s request. He will return to Joliet to await a Feb. 24 court date.
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