Melodi Green is a Peoria native who worked hard to make her dreams of becoming an attorney come true. She s now the first Black woman to head the Juvenile Division of the Peoria County State s Attorney s Office.
Green recently spoke to WCBU s Tim Shelley about her personal journey, how she approaches her job, and advice for those who might follow in her footsteps.
Melodi Green
Tim Shelley: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Are you a Peoria native?
Melodi Green: Yes, sir, I am. I m born and raised in Peoria, I went to Peoria Public Schools, my entire life, Peoria District 150. And this is my home, I don t know what else to say about that. My family is here, the vast majority of my family s here, and so Peoria is near and dear to my heart. It always has been and it will be. So those are some of the reasons that I want to work here, and live here, and help to better my community.
FILE PHOTO: AMY NIEBUR / WGLT
With law enforcement and civil rights groups at odds over qualified immunity protections in Illinois, the McLean County Board Justice Committee on Tuesday was set to consider a resolution to reinforce the police position.
Qualified immunity shields police officers from civil lawsuits where plaintiffs claim their rights were violated. Those protections have attracted scrutiny in the wake of high-profile episodes of police violence. Initially, state lawmakers sought to end qualified immunity as part of a broader criminal justice reform package. But that was stripped from the package before it passed. Instead, a commission will be created to study the issue.
A state appellate court says a Tazewell County man s constitutional rights were violated when he agreed to a de facto life sentence as a teenager a quarter century ago.
Phillip Johnson was 16 when he and his adult sister, Angela Oakes, were charged with shooting and killing their father, James Johnson, and his girlfriend, Frances Buck, in 1994.
Phillip Johnson entered into a plea deal with prosecutors, agreeing to a 110-year sentence in the murders to avoid a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Johnson was incarcerated in 1996. He s currently at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling, Ill.
Johnson s first post-conviction petition was rejected by the trial court in 1999. He filed an expedited motion for leave to file a second post-conviction petition in 2017.
WCBU
A man is dead and a suspect in custody after a shooting Saturday evening in Peoria s East Bluff neighborhood.
Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert of three rounds fired in the 1800 block of North Peoria around 5:15 p.m. A man with an apparent gunshot wound was found in a vehicle in the 300 block of East Ravine.
The man was taken to the hospital. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood later pronounced Bobby King, 31, of Peoria, brain dead. An autopsy is pending following organ donation.
After a five-hour standoff, police arrested Odis Jackson, 28, in the 3600 block of North Finnell early Sunday morning in connection with the shooting.
WCBU
A suspect is in custody after a man was found in a car with a life-threatening gunshot wound on Saturday evening in Peoria s East Bluff neighborhood.
Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert of three rounds fired in the 1800 block of North Peoria around 5:15 p.m. A man with an apparent gunshot wound was found in a vehicle in the 300 block of East Ravine. The man was taken to the hospital.
After a five-hour standoff, police arrested Odis Jackson, 28, in the 3600 block of North Finnell early Sunday morning in connection with the shooting.
The two men apparently knew each other, police saud. They got into a verbal argument before Jackson allegedly shot the victim and fled the area.