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McBride Trial -- Day 3, 11/28/01
Most of what I am reporting is my own paraphrasing of the questions asked to and answers given by the witnesses, and my own accounts of the proceedings, except where I use quotations marks. Some of today's report will consist of my paraphrasing of official transcripts that were read in court. The prosecutors on the case are ASA Lynda Peters and ASA Pat Kelly. The defense attorneys are Sam Adam (not Adams as I wrote yesterday) and his son, Sam Adam Jr. The judge is Kenneth Wadas. Before I go into my very lengthy report (which is even longer than yesterday's), here is a summary of what happened today. The prosecution continued their case with seven witnesses, including the four of the cops and detectives on the case, the former prosecutor, the assistant state's attorney who took Jerry Carter/Howard's grand jury testimony, and one of the forensic investigators. Most of the testimony from the former prosecutor and the other state's attorney dealt with Mr. Carter/Howard's statement to the police, his grand jury testimony, and his subsequent recantations, which seem to be turning into the central focus of the case. Ms. Peters said that tomorrow we should expect to hear from an evidence technician at the state crime lab, and then the state will rest and the defense will begin their case, which is expected to include two or three witnesses and should continue into Friday, when the closing arguments are expected, followed by the jury's deliberations. They are hoping for a verdict on Friday, but it may not be until next week. Now here are the details of the day's proceedings. The day began at 10:30 with the fifth state's witness, Chicago Police Sgt. Henry Harris, a black man who appeared to be about 35 years old, being questioned by Ms. Peters. He testified that he was called to an "aggravated battery involving a motor vehicle" along with Officer Dan Jacobs and Detective Harry Collins. He went with Jacobs to the scene and Collins went to the hospital where the victim had been taken. At the scene, he saw some other uniformed officers, and interviewed a few people, none of whom were witnesses, for about an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half. He then returned to the 15th District police station. Ms. Peters showed the witness some photos of the scene, which he identified as the bike wheel lying in a "grassy area," a "spot of blood" on the street, and crime scene cordoned off with yellow tape. He stated that he also saw "unusual scarring" on the street, like "something had been dragged and gouged." He was then shown a diagram of the area and pointed out the location of the crime scene. On cross-examination, he said that he did not see officer Secdonia Terry at the scene, and that although he interviewed 3 or four people, he did not take any witness statements, and made no notes of the conversations or the names of the people he talked to. Mr. Adam asked him about the location of the stop sign at the corner of Lorel and Washington, and he responded that it was about 10 to 15 feet from the curb, but he could not see it in the state's photograph. On redirect, he said that he does not usually take notes about conversations with non-witnesses. Then Mr. Adam re-crossed and asked him if he could have taken statements from people who had been at the scene but had left before he arrived, and he said no. This brought a groan from the audience. The sixth witness, Officer Dan Jacobs of the Chicago Police, a white man who appeared to be about 30 to 35 years old, was also called to an aggravated battery involving a vehicle and went to the scene with Mr. Harris. He later talked to Jerry Howard about the events. He asked Mr. Howard where he was at the time, and drew a diagram for him to mark. Ms. Peters showed Mr. Jacobs the diagram, which he identified and noted the marks made by Mr. Howard. On cross-examination, he said that he went to the scene with Officer Harris, but could not remember if they went in the same car. The next witness, Harry Collins, an investigator for the State's Attorney's office, was called to the stand by ASA Kelly. He is a white man, about 45 to 50 years old, who was a detective for the Chicago Police when he responded to a homicide call on Washington. He went to the hospital, but Tom McBride had been pronounced dead at the scene. He examined the body and then went to the crime scene at around 10:00 or 10:15. Officers Jacobs and Harris were already there, and the forensic investigators arrived during the hour and a half that he was there. Then he went to the alley where the bike had been found, and saw the bike there, some other officers, and the evidence technicians arrived shortly after. He then returned to the 15th District station where he saw the green Chevy SUV and again waited for the investigators. After some investigation there, the vehicle was towed to another location to look at its undercarriage, and then taken to the impound. Later, at about 7:45 that evening, he met with Assistant State's Attorney Trug Minneart to interview Jerry Howard. He stated that Mr. Minneart identified himself as the state's attorney and interviewed Mr. Howard for about 15 minutes. Mr. Minneart then asked Mr. Howard if he would sign the statement if it was reduced to writing and Mr. Howard said yes. Mr. Minneart then asked Mr. Howard a series of questions that Howard answered. At this point, Minneart and Howard were sitting next to each other at a desk and Collins was seated across the desk from them. This questioning lasted another 15 minutes. Then Mr. Minneart asked Mr. Howard to read the first paragraph of the statement aloud to show that he could read English, which he did. Then Mr. Minneart read each word of the statement to Mr. Howard and told him to make any corrections he wished to, which they would all initial. Mr. Howard made several corrections. Another paragraph was then added to the statement about Mr. Howard's treatment during the questioning, and Mr. Howard signed the statement. Then Mr. Minneart took a Polaroid picture of Mr. Howard. Mr. Kelly (the prosecutor) asked Mr. Collins to describe Mr. Howard's demeanor during the interview, and he replied that it was "relaxed and normal," that Mr. Howard's memory was fine, and that he answered the questions without hesitation. After a short recess, Mr. Kelly distributed copies of the statement to the witness and the jury, and the witness read the statement aloud. The remainder of this paragraph summarizes the statement. The Miranda warnings were stricken from the statement because they were not issued, as Mr. Howard was only a witness, not a suspect. The statement was taken at 8:40 p.m. All the lines of the statement begin "Jerry states..." There is some background information about Mr. Howard at the beginning. In the statement, Mr. Howard says that he was walking east on Washington on a bright, sunny day, when he saw a white man riding a bike with a backpack. He said that there was one lane of traffic going east on Washington and a parking lane. He saw a green SUV on Lorel. The SUV did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign on Washington and Lorel and almost hit the bike as it was passing. The bicyclist then hit the SUV with his hand and called the driver a "stupid mother fucker." The SUV turned onto Washington and followed the bike, then bumped its rear tire. The bike swerved, then sped up and tried to get away. The SUV also sped up and then ran over the bike. It first ran over the bike with its front axle and then dragged it from the rear. The SUV then sped away with sparks flying from the bike underneath it, and never slowed down or stopped to help. Mr. Howard then went to assist the bicyclist. In the statement, Mr. Howard stated that he was treated well during the questioning, given popcorn and water, and allowed to use the bathroom, and that the statement was given freely. The last page of the statement says that the entire statement was read to Mr. Howard and that he was allowed to make corrections. This page was also signed by Mr. Howard. Mr. Kelly asked the witness to point out the corrections that were made by Mr. Howard, which he did. On cross-examination, Mr. Collins said that he was retired from the police and was currently an investigator for the state attorney's office, which is the same office that employs the prosecutors in this case, Ms. Peters and Mr. Kelly. He said that he took the statement from Mr. Howard about twelve hours after the accident, and that nobody was present at that time except for himself, Mr. Howard, and Officer Jacobs. He reiterated that Mr. Howard was not hesitant during the questioning. He agreed that the statement was not a word-for-word account of Mr. Howard's testimony. He said that a court reporter was available at the time the statement was taken, but that none was present. Mr. Adam got Mr. Collins to admit that during the questioning, Mr. Howard said that he had had 12 years of formal education, but that he was never asked to write the statement himself. Mr. Howard asked no questions, and he was not asked any questions that were not in the statement. Mr. Howard read the statement before he signed it, and after reading it, no other questions were asked before it was signed. Mr. Collins stated that he knew that Mr. Howard had seen the events himself, but he did not ask him, "Where were you when you saw this?" He said that it did not occur to him to ask that. The statement does say that Mr. Howard was walking east on Washington, but not exactly where. (Mr. Adam really harped on this point.) Mr. Collins said that he does not know Assistant State's attorney Mike Rogers, and that he has not seen Mr. Howard since the incident. (Mr. Adam attempted to ask him if he knew that Mr. Howard had later recanted his statement, but the state objected, and the objection was sustained.) On redirect by the state, Mr. Collins reiterated that at the time he took the statement he was working for the Chicago Police, not the state's attorney's office. He stated that he wrote down a routine GPR, or general progress report, as notes before taking the statement. He said that Officer Jacobs had already made the diagram showing where Mr. Howard was standing at the time of the accident and that he had seen it before taking the statement. Mr. Howard was told that the statement was only a summary and that he would be able to make corrections to it, and he in fact did make corrections and signed every page. The defense then re-cross-examined and Mr. Collins admitted that he was not present when the diagram was made. He said that he was a friend of Officer Jacobs. He also said that there was no signature on the diagram. He stated that although he looked at the diagram beforehand, he did not have it in front of him during the interview. He said that he didn't know if the state's attorney had seen it, and that he did not tell him about it. He did not ask Mr. Howard to draw a diagram. On re-redirect by the state, he said that all diagrams and statements are made part of the case file, and that the state's attorney would have seen the file. The eighth witness for the state was ASA Karen Dooley, formerly Karen Worley, a white woman who appeared to be about 35 years old. She was assigned to the homicide unit of the grand jury. On May 6, 1999, she directed Jerry Howard's testimony before the grand jury that ultimately indicted Carnell Fitzpatrick. Before the grand jury testimony, she met separately with witnesses Lionel Dixon and Mr. Howard alone in her office. Before meeting with Mr. Howard, she read the statement he had given the police. She talked to him for about 10 or 15 minutes, not referring to the statement. She explained how the grand jury works, that only the grand jurors, the state's attorney, the witness, and the court reporter are in the room during testimony. She said that Mr. Howard was sworn in by the jury foreperson and that he testified for about 10 or 15 minutes to her questions. The grand jury then asked several questions. Afterward, she read over the transcript of the testimony for accuracy. Mr. Kelly then distributed copies of the transcript of Mr. Howard's grand jury testimony to the witness and the jury. The transcript is summarized in the remainder of this paragraph. Mr. Howard was sworn in. The testimony was regarding the homicide of Thomas McBride. Mr. Howard testified that he was in the area of 1553 West Washington, coming home from a friend's house, walking east on Washington. He saw the truck come to a stop sign at Lorel and Washington, "in front of him," but it didn't stop. The truck almost hit the bike, then the bike rider hit the truck with his hand and called the driver a "stupid mother fucker." The bike left and the truck sped after it. The truck got behind the bike, and Mr. Howard said that he thought the truck would stop and the driver would exchange words with the bicyclist, but instead it bumped the bicycle. At this point Mr. Howard testified that he was 40 to 50 feet away from the truck and bike. He approximated it relative to the length of the room he was testifying in, and Ms. Worley noted the distance for the record. The bike wobbled, then the truck hit it again and ran it over. The bike had been swerving, but the truck was not. Mr. Howard testified that the entire incident took about three or four minutes. (Yes, that's what the transcript says. I wonder if this was a mistake by the court reporter and really should have read "seconds" instead of "minutes.") He then ran towards the scene, the truck ran over the bicyclist, and then left. He saw the bicyclist gasping and noticed the bike under the truck, causing sparks to fly. The truck continued east on Washington and turned north onto Lockwood. He said that the truck was going 20 mph before the collision and 45 mph afterward. Mr. Howard stayed with the victim. He said that it seemed like the bike was "trying to get away" when the truck ran it over. He could not see if there was a passenger in the truck. He testified that he had met with the state's attorney and had said the same things, and reviewed and signed the statement on every page, that he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that no threats or promises had been made to him, and that Ms. Worley had identified herself as the state's attorney. All the questions after this point in the transcript are asked by the grand jury. One juror estimated the length of the room that Mr. Howard had compared to the distance between himself and the truck as only 15 feet rather than 40 or 50 as had been previously noted. Mr. Howard agreed with this. A juror asked him to elaborate about the bicyclist touching the truck, and he reiterated that the bicyclist hit the bike with his hand and the curse word. A juror asked about the direction that the bike and the truck were traveling, and Mr. Howard responded that the bike was traveling east and the truck turned to pursue it. Ms. Dooley stated that the transcript she was shown was the same as the one she had seen before, and that Mr. Howard was cordial, cooperative, pleasant, calm, and not hesitant during his testimony. Ms. Dooley was cross-examined by Mr. Adam and said that she had been a state's attorney since 1994, and worked for the same office as the prosecutors. She stated that she had not seen the crime scene herself, and that although she may have driven by that area at some point, she was not familiar with it. She did not remember seeing any other documents or pictures besides the police statement and the transcript. She said that there was no one else in the grand jury room, and that she was free to ask any questions she wanted. The defendant or his lawyers were not present during the grand jury testimony. (Mr. Adam really harped on this point as well, I suppose to insinuate that the questioning was one-sided, but Dooley wouldn't go along, since that's how grand juries work.) From the transcript, she read that Mr. Howard had testified that he was "in front" of the events, but when she asked him exactly where he was, he had answered "I was like running towards" them. He had said that he was walking down Washington. Ms. Dooley said that Mr. Howard told her the same story before he testified to the grand jury, but had not specifically mentioned the three to four minute time frame. (Mr. Adam tried to ask her if she thought that three to four minutes made sense, but the state objected on the grounds that her opinion was irrelevant.) She did not have Mr. Howard draw a diagram. She said that there is not usually an easel or blackboard in the grand jury room. She stated that she has not spoken to Mike Rogers about the case, but that she does know him. On redirect, Mr. Kelly had Ms. Dooley re-read a question from the transcript where she had asked Mr. Howard, "Was the distance you were from where the events took place 15 to 20 feet?" and Mr. Howard had responded yes. She also said that she would have known the distance from the case file. At this point it was 12:45 and the trial was recessed for lunch. After lunch, at about 2:10, the lights were turned off in the courtroom and a TV was set up. Some legal arguments were made to the judge before the jury was brought in. The defense was arguing that some of the pictures that the state was planning to show the jury were prejudicial, as they were bloody and disturbing. Both sides agreed to defer this argument until the next day when the medical examiner was scheduled to testify and they knew exactly which pictures would be shown. The state then asked the judge for leeway in questioning the next witness about Jerry Howard's alleged admission to the witness that he had been threatened into recanting his testimony. The defense said that this would be hearsay, that they would not get to cross-examine Mr. Howard about it, and that the state should have asked Mr. Howard (Carter) this during his testimony if they wanted to bring up the issue. The state noted that they had been barred from asking Mr. Howard about it by a previous motion that the judge had granted the defense (due to the alleged threats being prejudicial to the defendant), and that the witness cannot explain Mr. Howard's sudden change of heart to the jury without bringing this up. After about fifteen minutes of wrangling, Judge Wadas decided that the witness can be led about Mr. Howard's truthfulness, but cannot be asked about the alleged threats. Ms. Peters then went to brief the witness. At 2:30, the state's ninth witness, Assistant State's Attorney Michael Rogers, a white man who looked about 40 years old, took the stand. He was the original prosecutor assigned to this case. He met with Karen Worley and Jerry Howard. He talked to Mr. Howard alone and gave him his business card and told him to call him if he had any problems. They had about three conversations on the phone and Mr. Howard never said that he had made inaccurate statements or made a mistake in his testimony, and he never said that he had talked to his pastor. Mr. Rogers asked Mr. Howard if everything he said had been true, and he said yes. On cross-examination, Mr. Rogers said that he talked with Mr. Howard several more times between May 1999 and January 2000, when he was taken off of the case. Mr. Howard had initiated the conversations by calling or paging him. In January 2000, Jerry Howard told Mr. Rogers that his statements in May of 1999 were not true. At this point the lawyers and the judge recessed to the judge's chambers for about 10 minutes, after which the jury was excused and the lawyers from both sides interviewed Mr. Rogers in the conference room for another 20 minutes, which I could not hear. Then Mr. Rogers was re-directed by the state and said that Jerry Carter (Howard) said that he had told the truth. It was not until eight months later that he said anything about making a mistake. Jerry called him and said that he no longer wanted to cooperate in the case, and that although his previous statements were true, he would deny them if he were called to testify. The tenth witness called was Officer Secdonia Terry of the Chicago Police, a black woman who appeared to be about 40 to 45 years old. She works in the 15th District as a patrol cop. She received a call about a traffic accident, and was told that someone at the scene wanted to talk to her. Upon arriving, she saw her son and some other beat officers there. Her son's name is Demetrius Terry and he is now 29 years old. She is a long-time friend of Corky's (Carnell Fitzpatrick) family, and she is Carnell's godmother. Her son grew up with Carnell, and he used to spend time at her home. Her son called Corky (Carnell) on his phone from the scene, and Officer Terry talked to him for two or three minutes. She asked Mr. Fitzpatrick if he knew what he had done, and he admitted hitting a guy on a bike. She asked him why he had left the scene, and he said that he was scared and had "soiled his pants," so he went home. She agreed to meet him at the Amoco station. She first talked to some other cops and then went to the Amoco station with Officers O'Grady and Alexander at about 9:05. Carnell arrived there about 15 minutes later in the SUV, with his girlfriend Tinada and his two young children. She arrested and handcuffed Carnell and took him back to the 15th District. Officer Alexander drove the SUV there. That afternoon, she spoke to Jacobs, Harris, and Collins at the Grand and Central station. She did not see her son at either police station. She wrote no reports. On cross-examination, she guessed that there had been about four uniformed police officers at the scene. She was there for about five or ten minutes. Officers O'Grady and Alexander were there, but she didn't notice any detectives. Her son was standing on Washington west of Lockwood. He owns a navy blue Crown Victoria. She was shown a photo of the scene by Mr. Adam and recognized the car in it. She said that she spent a lot of time with Corky when he was young, but that she hasn't seen him much lately since her son doesn't live with her anymore. She said that Demetrius called Corky on his own phone. She reiterated that she had asked Corky why he left the scene, and that he said he was scared. He wanted to turn himself in, but did not want to return to the scene, and he wanted her to be there. On redirect, she said that at the time of the incident she didn't know what car her son owned and did not recognize any cars at the scene. The eleventh state's witness was Chicago Police Officer Victor Rivera, a Hispanic man who appeared to be about 45 years old. He was called to the scene with his partner Dan Principato. When they got there at 10:18, the entire block had been blocked off with yellow crime scene tape. Several other officers were there, including Jacobs. He photographed the scene from various angles and recovered evidence, including two blood swabs from the street, a bicycle tire, a piece of inner tube that was tied in a knot, and a license plate. He used cotton swabs to collect the blood and inventoried the evidence. The inner tube and wheel were found in the street near the blood. He then went to the secondary scene in the alley off of the 5200 block of Lake Street and saw more officers and crime scene tape there. He retrieved the bicycle missing its front wheel, and took more photographs. He spent 30 minutes to an hour there and returned to the 15th District station. There he finds the SUV, which is photographed and dusted for prints. The undercarriage was not examined there; instead it was towed to the auto pound and put on a lift, at which point it was photographed from underneath. Blood and silver metal scrapings were found on various parts of the undercarriage on the driver's side, along with red fibers, like strands of thread, and the impression of an emblem that appeared to be some kind of designer logo. Hair and more blood were found under the passenger side. The evidence was sent to a state crime lab. At this point, the photos that Officer Rivera had taken were shown on a TV to the jury. These included general pictures of both scenes and the SUV, pictures of the marks on the road, various shots of the bike, and close-ups of the evidence on the underside of the SUV. On cross-examination, Officer Rivera said that he saw only a single police car parked on the south side of Washington, and no other cars parked there, and that no tow trucks had been called. He was shown a photo of the scene again and could not identify the stop sign on Lorel at Washington going north. He was shown a wider view photo and still could not see it. He said that he could not recall any pictures of the stop sign or the sign itself. At 4:05, he was excused and court was recessed for the day. Well, that's about it. I would write some brilliant analysis, but I am too tired after typing all of this, and at this point I'm not really sure what is going to happen. It seems that everything still hinges on whether the jury accepts Jerry Carter/Howard's original statement and grand jury testimony. It's too bad that the jury can't be told that Carnell Fitzpatrick is a drug dealer with gangster buddies and that Carter supposedly told Mike Rogers that he had been intimidated. Right now, the only theory they have heard about his recantations is Carter's own story that he made everything up because he was mad at the driver for leaving the scene and then had a change of heart months later after talking to his pastor. Sounds more like the good old days in Chicago when witnesses suddenly developed amnesia after a run-in with some of Capone's boys to me, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, the plan is to resume testimony at around 11:00 tomorrow. I hope to see some of you there.
-- Dan Korn
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