The two ambulance workers charged with first-degree murder in the 2022 death of Earl Moore Jr. will be tried separately, a Sangamon County judge has ruled.
Circuit Court Judge Robin Schmidt on Dec. 2 granted the request from both defendants, Peter Cadigan, 53, and Peggy Finley, 47, both of Springfield. The former employees of LifeStar Ambulance Service had been scheduled to go on trial together beginning May 11.
Lawyers for both defendants contended that going on trial at the same time and in front of the same jury would create unnecessary conflicts in their defense arguments, and Schmidt agreed.
“Each of the defendants will be pointing the finger at each other,” Justin Kuehn, Cadigan’s lawyer, told the judge.
A trial that is expected to last two weeks still could begin on that date, court officials indicated. Who will be tried first is up to Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser, and Milhiser is expected to notify the court of his preference in the coming weeks. The next hearing on the case’s status is scheduled for Jan. 5.
Cadigan was working as an emergency medical technician, and Finley was working as Cadigan’s supervising paramedic, when the two transported Moore, 35, face-down on a stretcher, rather than the recommended position – on his back – from his Springfield home to HSHS St. John’s Hospital in 2022.
Moore was pronounced dead by St. John’s officials at 3:14 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2022, after an ambulance ride that lasted two to three minutes.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Scott Denton of Bloomington concluded after an autopsy that Moore, a former McDonald’s shift manager, died from “compressional and positional asphyxia” because of being placed face-down, or prone, and being tied down tightly by Cadigan.
Former Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright, who since then has been appointed an associate circuit judge, said in charging documents that the EMS workers “did acts without lawful justification” that caused Moore’s death and that the worker knew, based on their “training, experience and the surrounding circumstances” that their acts “would cause a substantial probability of great bodily harm or death.”
Cadigan and Finley, who have been released while awaiting trial, have pleaded not guilty. Their attorneys have said the situation, while tragic, didn’t justify a murder charge. The attorneys have indicated that they plan to call experts to the stand at trial disagreeing with Denton on whether suffocation was Moore’s cause of death.
The EMS workers were summoned to Moore’s home after he called 911 while hallucinating during an episode of alcohol withdrawal, according to authorities.
A toxicology report after his death indicated his blood-alcohol level was 0.077%, or just under the legal limit of 0.08% for driving in Illinois.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Texas-based lawyer Robert Hilliard, who represented Moore’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Centralia-based LifeStar, previously said Moore’s case might have been the first in the United States in which first responders were charged with murder in the death of a patient.
Hilliard said he believed the fact that Moore was Black and the EMS workers were white played a role in the rough, rude and ultimately deadly treatment of Moore that is depicted on police-worn camera footage of the incident.
Moore’s mother, Rose Washington, 59, of Springfield, said after the Dec. 2 hearing that she is anxious for Cadigan and Finley to go on trial, and she believes the murder charges were appropriate.
“They need to go ahead and get this trial over with,” Washington said.
Springfield resident Teresa Haley, an advocate for Moore’s family, said, “This family is really concerned. They have no faith in the justice system, but we’re hoping that justice is served for Earl Moore.”
Washington said she is upset she will have to sit through two trials.
“They was together when it happened, so it should have been one trial,” Washington said. “Look how long it’s taking. This happened so long ago. I hurt every day for this. My son ain’t never coming back. Never. And we’re still going through this, and this happened years and years ago. … I sit and mourn all the time. They took one of my kids away from me. … He didn’t deserve that. He didn’t hurt anybody. He just laid on a gurney. If they would have turned him over, maybe that wouldn’t have happened.”
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer with Illinois Times. He can be reached at dolsen@illinoistimes.com, 217-679-7810 or www.x.DeanOlsenIT.
This article appears in December 11-17, 2025.
