First Trial in Colin Nutter Murder Case Delayed

The trial of the first of the murder defendants in last summer’s shooting of a young man from Highland Park has been delayed for at least a day, TribLocal reports.

Philip Vatamaniuc was to go on trial Monday on first-degree murder charges for the murder of 20-year-old Colin Nutter.

Vatamaniuc, then 17, Benjamin Schenk, then 20, and Michael Coffee, then 17, were all charged with first-degree murder after prosecutors say they sat with Nutter in his car then shot him in the back of the head during a marijuana deal. They then drove his body to Wilmette and dumped it by the side of the Edens expressway, prosecutors allege.

Vatamaniuc’s trial was delayed after prosecutors said his defense lawyer should be removed from the case because he has a conflict of interest involving one of the witnesses, TribLocal reports.

Separately, a plea deal for Coffee fell apart after he rejected the offer, according to an article in the Lake County News-Sun. Prosecutors said no further plea deals would be offered.

You can read more about the case and what prosecutors believe happened here.

You can read more about Colin Nutter here.

You can read the full News-Sun story here.

You can read the full Triblocal story here.