Oct. 24—MORRISON — A Rock Falls man sentenced last week to up to three life sentences and an additional 105 years in prison for setting a fatal fire at a Sterling apartment four years ago is asking for his sentence to be reconsidered .
In a motion to reconsider his sentence filed Tuesday in Whiteside County Circuit Court, 45-year-old Steven W. Coleman argues that the court did not take into account all mitigating factors in determining the sentence, that the court did not give sufficient weight to the factors leading to mitigating circumstances and that the penalties imposed were excessive in the light of the spirit and purpose of the law. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18 at 1 p.m. in Whiteside County Circuit Court.
Coleman was convicted Oct. 17 in the arson-related deaths of Celina Serrano, 13, on June 1, 2020; Shyla Walker, 8, of Davenport, Iowa; and neighbor Carrie A. (Hall) Hose, 49, at the Western Apartments in Sterling. Whiteside County Judge Trish Senneff ordered Coleman to serve three life sentences for first-degree murder, one for each victim. These sentences must be served consecutively and he is not eligible for parole.
He was also sentenced to 30 years in prison, with an 85% mandatory prison sentence, on three counts of aggravated arson relating to serious injuries sustained by two residents and a Dixon firefighter at the scene. On the last charge, a charge of housing association, he will serve fifteen years in prison.
A jury convicted Coleman in July after hearing testimony that he set the fire to get back at a drug dealer who sold him fake cocaine the day before the fire. Witnesses had testified that he got a ride to the Western Apartments, a two-building complex at 908 W. Third St., in the early morning of June 1, 2020; investigators said he then set two fires in the entrance of the eight-unit building. Celina, Shyla and Hose died at the scene. Nine others were injured.
Coleman is represented by Whiteside County Assistant District Attorney Dana McCormick.
