Greene County double-murder suspect has prelim hearing

By Gary Scott on October 10, 2018 at 12:00pm

A Rockbridge man accused of stabbing his two uncles to death last month appeared in Greene County court this morning.

Twenty-eight year old Adam Gowin, of Rockbridge, appeared in Greene County court for a preliminary hearing this morning alongside Public Defender Tom Piper. Gowin is facing six counts of alleged first degree murder for the deaths of 55-year old Ronald Plummer and 54-year old Billy Plummer, both of Rockbridge, both uncles to the defendant, on September 9th.

Prior to his first appearance on September 11th, Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe filed six counts of alleged first degree murder charges against Gowin – three counts each for both victims. Gowin appeared in front of Circuit Judge James Day this morning for his preliminary hearing. State’s Attorney Briscoe explains what took place during today’s hearing.

“A preliminary is not a full-blown trial. You can testify to hearsay and wouldn’t necessarily be admissible in a formal trial setting. In this case, we called upon Randall Custer with the Illinois State Police who was able to testify to the state police’s investigation. The judge did find probable cause to continue with a trial, and arraignment has been set for October 26th at 3 p.m.”

According to Judge Day, if Gowin is found guilty of first-degree murder for one of his uncles, he will face between 20 and 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by 3 years Mandatory Supervised Release. If Gowin is found guilty of first degree murder for the deaths of both of his uncles, the sentence would immediately become imprisonment for the rest of his natural life.