Madison County prosecutors drop drug-induced homicide charges in two more cases

EDWARDSVILLE • Madison County prosecutors have dropped drug-induced homicide charges against a Bethalto woman in the wake of a judge's ruling in a separate case.

Stephanee Smith, spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office, said charges against Angela R. Halliday in each of two heroin-overdose deaths were dropped in return for her guilty pleas to other charges.

Prosecutors have been reviewing pending drug-induced homicide cases since Associate Judge James Hackett stopped a trial and acquitted Taylor Kennedy of drug-induced homicide for allegedly supplying heroin that killed 17-year-old Triad High School senior Shannon Gaddis. The judge said the evidence showed that any drug delivery that may have occurred had occurred in Missouri, not Illinois. Hackett agreed with Kennedy's attorney that the charges required a drug delivery within the state of Illinois.

Halliday, 28, was facing charges of drug-induced homicide for allegedly providing heroin that killed 27-year-old Benjamin R. Berkenbile of Worden in April 2011 and 30-year-old Joshua P. Rogers in a Godfrey hotel room in May 2011.

In the both cases, Halliday pleaded guilty of delivery of a controlled substance, Xanax, within 1,000 feet of a church. Both deliveries are alleged to have been in Godfrey.

Prosecutors did not agree to specific sentencing recommendations. Each of those offenses carries a possible penalty of three to seven years in prison. No sentencing date was set.

Prosecutors had earlier dropped drug-induced homicide charges against two men who were charged in connection with Rogers' death.

A bill that would change the drug-induced homicide law to allow prosecution in cases where the drug delivery occurred outside Illinois has been passed by the Illinois House but awaits Senate consideration.

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Help Catch Texas Honor Killer Yasser Said

First of all, all rights reserved to the respected owners of the audios. Unjustice- Honor Killing in Texas; Amina & Sarah Said Two teenage sisters were shot to death Tuesday night, New Years of 2008 and Irving police believe their father may be a suspect. A woman called emergency crews at approximately 7:30 pm saying she had been shot, but she could not identify her location. Officers tracked the call to a general area but could not find anyone with additional information. At 8:30 pm police received another call reporting a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot at a nearby location. Two dead females were found in the car. It was determined that one of the women had made the earlier call to 911. The women were later identified as Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18. Both had been shot, and police are now searching for their father Yaser Abdel Said, believed to be a suspect in their slayings. Said is described as being 6 feet two inches tall with black hair and brown eyes, weighing approximately 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black turtleneck shirt/sweater, a brown coat and tan pants. He is believed to be armed with a handgun. Anyone with information is asked to contact Irving police, fbi, your own local authorities, and report crime tips to america's most wanted . People are warned not to approach or try to apprehend the suspect.

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