Murder defendant gets public defender

A Streator-connected man, charged last week with 10 gang murders, had his first court appearance Wednesday in Chicago.

Romeo Blackman, 22, is charged with heading a gang in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood that murdered 10 people between January 2014 and July 2016. Blackman is also charged with stealing guns from a South Streator gun shop in June 2016. Further, he is awaiting sentencing for illegally possessing a gun and heroin in Streator on Aug. 5, 2016, since which date he has been in custody.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Blackman pleaded not guilty to the murders and a public defender was appointed to represent him. Blackman's next court date is Thursday, Dec. 13.