A 71-year-old man convicted in an Illinois state trooper’s 1976 killing in Effingham County has been released from prison after the state’s Prisoner Review Board granted him early release.
Aaron Hyche, who spent more than 45 years behind bars for Trooper Layton Davis’ murder, was released Friday from the Dixon Correctional Center after being granted early release. He was serving a sentence of 150 to 300 years in prison for fatally shooting Davis after the officer pulled him over for speeding on Interstate 57 a few miles north of Effingham.
An online petition that advocated for Hyche’s release states that he has “numerous critical illnesses.”
Hyche benefited from a new state law that gives the Prison Review Board more authority to consider a prisoner’s early release for terminal illness being medically incapacitated.
Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge President Chris Southwood says while the FOP and the victim’s family had each received a letter from the Prisoner Review Board offering the chance to object to Hyche’s early release, he was released before the deadline for filing those objections. He called the action unconscionable even though Hyche had serious health concerns.
Southwood says this is another example of a political climate in Illinois where the lives and rights of not only our public safety professionals but also law-abiding citizens, take a back seat to the rights of criminals. Then he notes our elected leaders wonder why crime is skyrocketing.
