A 66-year-old Greenville man was sentenced Tuesday in Fayette County Court to 7 years in prison on a Class X felony conviction of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under the age 13.

Lloyd W. Merkley was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case but the Illinois’ Fifth Appellate Court has remanded the 2012 back to the Fayette County Court after ruling the lower court violated Merkley’s right to due process.

According to Appellate records, in September 2012, Judge Alan Lolie asked Merkley’s attorney if he had a bona fide doubt as to Merkley’s ability to understand the court proceedings and the attorney responded that he had a genuine doubt.

However, Judge Lolie questioned Merkley and said he was not convinced a bona fide doubt existed and denied the defense request to have Merkley undergo a fitness evaluation.

The Appellate Court found in that the circuit court “erred when it denied the defendant’s motion to appoint an expert to aid in determining whether a bona fide doubt existed regarding the defendant’s fitness to stand trial and the error resulted in a violation of the defendant’s right to due process.”

It then vacated Merkley’s guilty plea and remanded the case back to Fayette County.

In addition to the 7-year prison sentenced handed down Tuesday, Merkley will have to serve 3-years mandatory supervised release and register for life as a sexual predator. He was given credit for 1,717 days already served.