Judge denies Rock Falls man’s claims of ineffective counsel at Western Apartments murder trial

MORRISON – A Rock Falls man found guilty two months ago of setting a fire at an Sterling apartment complex that killed three people was back in court Wednesday, losing his argument that the public defender representing him at trial was ineffective and had a conflict of interest because of loyalty to her boss, Whiteside County Public Defender James Fagerman.

Steven Coleman, 45, presented his case Wednesday at a preliminary Krankel hearing. He was found guilty in July of setting fire to the Western Apartments in 2020 in retaliation for a drug deal gone bad. An eight-man, four-woman jury returned guilty verdicts on seven of 10 charges, including guilty verdicts for three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Celina Serrano, 13, her cousin Shyla Walker, 8, of Davenport, and neighbor Carrie A. (Hall) Hose, 49.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Coleman told Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge Trish Senneff that Dana McCormick, the public defender who represented Coleman at his criminal trial, was unable to effectively represent him because her boss, Fagerman, was employed as an attorney with Sterling law firm Mertes & Mertes at the time charges were filed four years ago.

Mertes & Mertes is the law firm representing a survivor of the fire in a $100 million civil lawsuit that names Coleman as a defendant, he said.

Coleman said he believed Fagerman was loyal to Mertes & Mertes because he had formerly worked there and that his loyalty would have affected McCormick in how she defended the case. Coleman also questioned how McCormick could effectively cross-examine during the trial and said Fagerman, who was not part of the defense team, sat at the prosecutors’ table at one point during the trial.

“He plays a supervisor role over her,” Coleman said. “She can’t be loyal to him and loyal to me at the same time.”

After hearing Coleman’s claims and questioning McCormick about whether she had been influenced by Fagerman, to which McCormick replied “no,” Senneff said Coleman was basing his claims on conclusions with no evidence to back them up.

Senneff, who presided over Coleman’s criminal trial two months ago, said that although Fagerman in fact did work for Mertes & Mertes in 2020, he left that position in June 2021 to work at the Whiteside County State’s Attorney’s Office. He left that position in 2023 to become the county’s lead public defender.

Senneff also said Fagerman actually had taken duties off McCormick’s plate to free up her time to work on Coleman’s case.

“I don’t see that he is more devoted to his former employer than he is to being the public defender for Whiteside County,” Senneff said. “There is no evidence that Ms. McCormick said or did anything to show she was influenced by her boss.”

Ruling from the bench, Senneff said she found no evidence of a conflict of interest.

“Ms. McCormick at all times was extremely observant to her client’s interests,” Senneff said. “She had absolute loyalty to her client’s defense. She did an excellent job. She did her utmost to poke holes in the prosecution’s case.”

His next court appearance will be a hearing on his motion for a new trial. That will be at 9 a.m. Sept. 26 in Whiteside County court.

Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. Oct. 17 at the Whiteside County Courthouse. Each of the first-degree murder charges is punishable by 20 to 60 years or up to life in prison. Of the four arson-related charges for which he was convicted, three carry a sentence ranging from six to 30 years in prison and one carries a sentence of four to 15 years.

Coleman was found guilty after three days of testimony that included firefighters, police, fire investigators, and DNA and forensics experts. Walker, Coleman’s ex-girlfriend Carly Fischbach and Coleman’s brother Jesse Coleman also testified for the prosecution. Throughout the trial, prosecutors worked to prove that Steven Coleman’s motive was to seek revenge after paying $150 for cocaine May 31, 2020, that turned out to be fake. They said he had gotten a ride to the Western Apartments – a two-building complex – in the early-morning hours of June 1, 2020. They said he set two fires in the entryway of the eight-unit building at 908 W. Third St.

Celina, Shyla and Hose died at the scene. Nine others were injured.