Man serving time for murder wants plea vacated

A man that admitted to killing a woman during a botched burglary in Streator wants to take back his guilty plea.
22 year old Randall Jennings was in court this week trying to vacate guilty plea to killing Cynthia Defenbaugh in 2002.
Jennings was sentenced to 45 years in prison in February after saying he was sorry for beating Defenbaugh to death with a hammer. Jennings said he picked Defenbaugh’s house randomly to burglarize. When she startled him, he beat her to death. The only things he ended up stealing were a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
State’s Attorney Brian Towne also calls Jennings a dangerous man. Towne asked for the 45 years but said he would’ve sought the death penalty if Jennings wasn’t only 15 at the time of the murder.
A hearing on his motion was delayed until October 1st.

Homemade explosives draw bomb squad to La Salle

Kids like to horse around but sometimes they can cross the line. Police, fire officials, and a bomb squad were out just overnight in La Salle after several kids were found with homemade explosives.
Police were called to the 1900 block of Crosat Street just after 2am Saturday as part of a loud noise complaint. Police say the kids were setting off the explosives at the corner of Crosat and Grant.
Charges are pending.