BLOOMINGTON - A Bloomington man charged in the shooting deaths of three people has decided he wants a judge and not a jury to decide his fate.
Twenty-two-year-old Sydney Mays is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in a June shooting in which Nate Pena, Corey Jackson and Carlos Perez were killed and Pena's toddler son was injured.
The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reports that Mays' announcement this week that he wants a bench trial comes weeks after he dismissed a public defender so that he could represent himself. He will, however, get some help from an attorney after Judge Casey Costigan appointed a public defender to answer questions Mays might have on legal issues.
Issues regarding trial strategy will still be left to Mays.
