McLean County jury acquits man in manslaughter retrial

Posted on June 13, 2015

Xavier Cordova, 30, of Chicago has been acquitted in the death of Mitchell Robinson. (Photo courtesy McLean County Jail)

By WJBC Staff

BLOOMINGTON – A Chicago man is now a free man after a McLean County jury found him not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a retrial.

Xavier Cordova, 30, had been convicted in the strangulation death of Mitchell Robinson in 2009. A state appeals court reversed the conviction and barred Cordova’s statement to police that he had Robinson in a chokehold from being used at trial.

A McLean County jury deliberated for two hours before finding Cordova not guilty.

Robinson was Cordova’s roommate when Robinson died in September of 2009. He had lost consciousness after the men had been drinking at a birthday party.

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