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Adrienne White

CSR

2650 S. California Avenue Room 4C02


Ch icago, Illinois 60603
Phone 847.674-3407

DATE:

2/20/2015

FOR:

trial transcript

Bill To: Annabel Melongo

DESCRIPTION

AMO_UNT

IN RE: People versus Annabel Melongo


Case Number: 08 CR 10502-01
Hearing Date: 7/28/14
Judge: Hon . Timothy J. Joyce
Pages:
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$396.15

STATE OF ILLINOIS
SS :

2
3

COUNTY OF C 0 0 K
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY , ILLINO IS
COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CRIMINAL DIVISION

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE


OF ILLINOIS ,
Criminal
Plaintiff ,

No .
7
8

08 CR 10502 - 01

vs.
ANNABEL MELONGO ,
Defendant .

10

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS had at the hearing

11

in the above - entitled cause before the HONORABLE

12

TIMOTHY JOSEPH JOYCE ,

13

28th day o f

Judge of said court ,

on the

July 2014 .

14

PRESENT :

15

17

HONORABLE ANITA M. ALVAREZ ,


State 's Attorney of Cook County , by:
MS . NANCY ZARKOS and MS . DEBJANI DASGUPTA ,
Assistant State ' s Attorneys ,
appeared on behalf of the People ;

18

MS.

16

JENNIFER BONJEAN ,
appeared on behalf of the Defendant.

19

20
21
22
23

ADRIENNE WHITE CSR #084 - 004614


Official Court Reporter

24

THE COURT :

Switching over to Judge Goebel's

THE CLERK :

Annabelle Melongo.

MS .

THE COURT :

call.

Good morning ,

ZARKOS :

your Honor .

Could everyone identify themselves

please .
MS .

Nancy Zarko s,

ZAR KOS :

with my partner ,

Dasgupta ,

10

THE COURT:

11

MS.

12

Bonjean ,

13

Annabelle Melongo .

we doing today?

16

MS .

17

state's ready .

18

MS .

19

Honor ,

20

that was

21

ago .

Good morning.

B- o - n - j - e - a - n ,

15

ZAR KOS :

D- a - s - g - u - p-t - a.

And for the defense .

BONJEAN :

THE COURT :

Jennifer

on behalf of the defendant

Good morning ,

everyone .

We have a de mand

BONJEAN :

Defense i s

jury .

What are

And the

ready as well .

there is a motion pending ,

Your

a motion in limine

fi l ed on the last court date about

22

along

Assistant State ' s Attorney Debjani

D- e - b - j - a-n - i ,

14

Z- a - r - k - o - s ,

30 days

So there a pretrial motions that Judge

23

Goebel had asked me to put in writing which I

24

that date .

didn ' t

did on

receive a written response from

the state.

response orally which is fine by us.

3
4

don't

know if they intend to

just

But that's the only other pretrial


issue that has to be addressed.
THE COURT:

was advised that Judge Goebel

wasn ' t going to be here

desk.

with what the allegations are.

Friday and dropped it on my

looked at it this morning.

I'm familiar

have read the motion I

10

I mean .

11

orig inally scheduled for 1:00 o ' clock.

12

moved to later this morning.

guess is what

have a murder sentencing here that was

13

It's getting

But what that probably means is that

14

supposedly realistically,

15

that

16

Jurors .

17

everybody else's -- anticipating doing this murder

18

sentencing this morning.

guess,

my thought was

wouldn't be coordinating to complete 40


Plus,

19

depending on my day -- let alone

Maybe we'll be getting our

jurors

20

before noon and sending them to lunch and telling

21

them to be back here at 1:00 o'clock rather than not

22

getting them in until 2:00.

23
24

Perhaps starting the


around 1:00.

jury selection at

Then maybe resolving the motion in

limine after that only because otherwise we'll be

picking a

jury at 5 : 00 or 6:00 o'clock.

imagine you want the

jurors that

we ' re going to be selecting -- nobody in this

building should be here that long.

should let them know everything ,

ticked off and not happy to come back here.

that sound like a plan?

9
10

MS .

ZARKOS :

them by tomorrow ,
THE COU RT:

11

Rather than if we

and have them get


Does

think we should be questioning

your Honor.
I

ant i cipate selecting the

jury

12

today resolving the motion after we select the

13

And we can do the swearing and commencing the trial

14

tomorrow.

15

be?

16
17
18
19
20

MS.

jury.

How long do we anticipate the trial will

ZARKOS :

Three witnesses ,

that's it,

your

Honor.
THE COURT :

suppose you have your own

witnesses depending on how I


MS .

BONJEAN :

Yes ,

if I

rule on the bench.


have to prove it up ,

21

impeachment ,

which way the witness -- absolutely.

22

But at the same time it could be -- we have no one

23

depending on what the state presents in their case in

24

chief .

Let's start

THE COURT:

I' 11 do is

I' 11 get a

get them in.

I
I

flushing

it

jury before lunch,

out.

What

I' 11

just

don't want to do anything formally.


usually don't have the attorneys

under court order because the defendant's off in

custody .

in an hour.

I ' l l bring them in.

I ' l l be getting them

And if we finish an hour earlier --

MS.

ZARKOS:

THE COURT:

10

MS.

BONJEAN:

11

THE COURT:

Sounds excellent.
Ms.

Bonjean.

Yes,

your Honor.

I ' l l plan and see.

The court reporter wi ll be entitled to her

12

12:40.

13

lunch as well as court personnel.


And we can talk then about how

14
select a

16

we'll go smoothly from there.

18

MS.

jury and where.

BONJEAN:

will

Excellent.

Thank you,

your

Honor.

19

(Whereupon ,

20

the case was passed

and later recalled.)

21
22

Just so that everything

15

17

It's around

* * * * *
THE COIJRT:

Let's go on the

record with Annabel

We're s t i l l waiting for the

23

Melongo.

24

venire is not

in the courtroom.

jury.

Our

The parties are

We did discuss off the record my jury trial

present.

general proc e dures in discussing -- in selecting a

jury.

I now wish to ask parties or ask the

state which counts of this 4 count indictment they

seek to proceed on?

count or counts does the state wish to proceed on.

MS.

ZARKOS:

THE COURT :

On this 3 count indictment which

Count 3.
Just so we ' re clear that's the

10

offense of the counts that alleges computer tampering

11

between April 28th,

12

2006.

13

2006 continuing through May 1,

Ms . Melongo knowingly and without the

14

authorization of the computer's owner accessed the

15

computer program and data or any parts thereof and

16

altered the computer program and data with the intent

17

to commit an offense established under the Illi nois

18

Computer Crime Lab 720 ILCS 516 B to with that on or

19

about May 1 ,

20

Life Foundation,

21

founder's computer.

22

2006,

Annabelle Melongo accessed Save a

Incorporated ,

parentheses NFP,

E- mailed through her computer which

23

was physically locked,

but I

24

presume that's located in Schiller Park and accessed

think that ' s

a typo -- I

Foundation ,

Inc ' s ,

NPS ,

president and founder.

These acts were done without the

3
4

authorization ,

knowledge or consent of the owner .

That's the count the state wi shes to proceed on ,

correct.

MS .

ZARKOS :

THE COURT :

MS .

Yes .
You wanted to make a point.

BONJEAN :

do ,

your Honor .

10

the state can clarify .

11

bill of particulars as to each count back -- made

12

some time ago.

13

There was a

And perhaps
request

for a

And they filed back on January 25,

14

2013 ,

supplemental answer to discovery regarding

15

this count.

16

approximately between the hours of 20:31 ,

17

23 : 01,

18

intruded into the e - m- a-i - 1 service of Carol

19

Spizzirri two times .

T hat on or about May 1st ,

31 -- i t ' s

20

2006 ,
41 dash

a military time -- defendant

believe that supplemental answer to

21

discovery relates to Count 3 ;

22

Herein is the confusion that

23

although the Count 3 ,

24

statute ,

the factual

is that correct?
I

now find myself

the language tracks the


allegation do not allege any

altering of the computer program .


It

just says intruded and even in the

to wit,

it says that without Ms .

author i zation that my client through her computer

accessed the e - mails .


Now ,

Spizzirri ' s

this becomes relevant because


It ' s

mere access is not a

misdemeanor offense under the statute .

MS.

ZARKOS :

felony offense .

It ' s

alteration by mov ing it and

10

forwarding it to employees at the Save a Life

11

Foundation with a different header .

12

facts will show in the case .

13

That ' s what the

That she accessed it and resent it to

14

certain employees of the Safe a Life Foundation ,

15

altered it by putting a new header on it.

16

MS .

BONJEAN :

17

MS .

ZARKOS :

18

just told me .

19

MS .

Umm .
Altered by removal as my colleague

BONJEAN :

Altered by -- okay.

Again ,

I 'm

20

trying to seek clarification because the indictment

21

and the request for the bill of particulars doesn ' t

22

quite lay that out .

23

that by forwarding an e-mail ,

24

e - mail itself?

So the theory of the state is

it altered it ,

the

MS.

DASGUPTA:

MS .

ZARKOS:

MS .

BONJEAN :

Altered the data.


Altered the data in the e-m-a-i-1.
Altered the data in the e-mail.

You're talking about by changing the subject matter.


Correct.

MS.

ZARKOS :

MS.

BONJEAN :

Okay.

That's fine,

your Honor.
I'm not

I'm going to do a

little research tonight.

sure that that ' s what was contemplated by alteration.


This is the first time I've heard that

10

is what they meant by altered.

11

now.

12

by altered it .

But that's fine

do have some clarification of what they meant

13

As far as I

understood altering files

14

was something a

15

statute they cite is 16 D dash 383,

16

been renumbered.

17

little different but maybe.

THE COURT:

18

Statute 2006.

19

MS.

20

THE COURT:

21

my 2014 book -MS .

23

THE COURT:

but

And the

know i t ' s

That's under the Illinois Compiled

BONJEAN:

22

24

for

Correct.
And in looking at this and checking

BONJEAN :

Correct .
--

realize I

book.

have to get a 2006

MS.

BONJEAN:

It was renumbered under 720 ILCS

5 back slash 17 dash 51,

t ampering statute .

MS .

THE COURT:

6
7

your Honor,

is the computer

Correct.

ZARKOS:

Is there anything else you wish to

discuss in connection with this now.


MS.

BONJEAN :

would just point out that the

st atute reads as such.

under accesses --

10

THE COURT:

11

MS.

12

THE COURT:

That they 00 that the A3 is

Let me --

BONJEAN:

Sure.
-- open up my book.

And i t ' s

13

everybody's belief that the new section -- I

14

new section doesn ' t

15

reference,

apply - -

but

know the

just for my sake of

the 17 dash 51 A 3?

16

MS.

BONJEAN:

17

MS.

ZARKOS:

18

THE COURT:

19

MS .

Yes,

your Honor;

is tha t

correct?

That is correct.
Go ahead,

BONJEAN:

Well,

Ms.

Bonjean .

it does state that accesses

20

or causes to be accessed a computer or any part

21

thereof a computer network for a program o r

data and

22

damages or destroys the computer or alters,

deletes

23

or removes a computer program or data.

24

Now ,

based on what I

10

have heard here

today that the state is alleging that by changing the

subject matter heading of an e-mail that Ms.

removed data in an e - mail,

understand --

MS .

DASGUPTA:

If I

Melongo

and I ' m trying to

could just clarify ,

we' re

saying that when she accessed the program

she accessed a program and data,

the data when she forwarded that e-mail to herself .

It alters the data

10

and that

or when
she altered

just by doing that.

And then she went on to change the

11

subject header and forward i t on to others.

12

the first

13

when she forwarded i t to herself.

14

MS.

That's

alteration we're saying is the removal

All

BONJEAN:

right.

Your Honor,

from

believe

15

thi s may be a very creative interpretation and maybe

16

case of first

impression.

But at least

17

have an answer to my

18

question.

19

anything further to add about this.

20

And I

will certainly fo llow up if

But ,

21

far as

22

in mind all along.

23

24

again,

I'm concerned.

THE COURT:

this

have

is a new theory as

But perhaps they have had that

say in the context of not

having --

11

MS .

THE COU RT:

Sure .

BONJEAN :
--

having anything to do with this

case other than maybe sitting in f or Judge Goebel on

some date months ago when I

Ms . Melongo being in front

continuance .

MS.

THE COURT:

MS .

10
11

of me for a ministerial

Correct .

BONJEAN :

My rec ollection .
Yes .

BONJEAN :

THE COURT:

recall being in front

So

don ' t

kno w anything about the

case .

12

MS.

13

THE COURT :

Right .

BONJEAN :
I

can on ly imagine why you ' re

14

making these representation .

15

your efforts

16

MS .

BONJEAN :

17

THE COURT :

And I

-- nor do I

begrudge your

responses .

But when you say things

19

20

suggesting that you' re taken aback ,

21

to prepare or anything like that?

new theory ,

MS.

lik e

this may be

are you requesting in any manner or

BONJEAN :

and you need time

Not at this time ,

23

my position were to change on that

24

Court

know as

begrudge

Sure .

18

22

don' t

so on as possible .

12

your Honor.
would let the

If

lU

po in

will put that on the record .

have any reason.

Again ,

But

don ' t

this is a

new theory .

believe that there is any

reason to be believe that we can ' t

think i t ' s a proof issue quite honestly.

And the state has

proceed today.

represented I

the question of what

going to be answered by the case law .

10

think

is altering or removing is not

don ' t

believ e

the definition clearly

11

states whether or not there theory would in fact be

12

an unviable one ,

13
14

THE COURT :
this

so.
I

like to say sometimes

guess

is why we have trials .


Yes ,

BONJEAN :

think that's

15

MS.

16

we ' re at

17

know what the theory is because as

18

it was a mere accessing charge ,

19

charge .

right now .

But

Although ,

20
21

itself ,

22

Count

23

alteration .

24

3,

the

am thankful

like

kind of where
for at least

far as

could see

not an alteration

said,

the statute

language of the statute was tracked in

but the

" to wit " did not mention any

In fact

in there answer to discovery

on their -- where they were asked for more det ails

doesn ' t

sugg es t

any a lte r ation either .


But I ' m not surprised that that they

are alleging factually that she changed - -

factual allegations are not a

sense.

8
9

10

THE COURT :

the

surprise if that makes

believe it does at this point but

it ' s more helpful that it makes sense to all of you .


MS .

Yes

BONJEAN :

It ' s more important that you all

THE COURT :

11

understand at this

12

I ' l l catch up .

13

juncture what's going on.

We ' re still waiting for our jurors.


But I

do want to broach one subject.

14

You said something about a misdemeanor .

15

been plea discussions in this case?

16

And here ' s why I

17

moment to me what you do ,

18

please of guilty .

19

Me,

ask :

jury trial ,

It doesn ' t

Have there

It ' s

of no

bench trial,

matter to me at all.

In broaching this subject ,

because I

20

just want to make that if there were plea

21

discussions ,

22

of them consistent with what

23

responsibilit i es pur s uant to Lafler versus Co oper ,

24

L-a - f - 1 - e - r ,

want to make s ure Ms.


I

Melongo is aware

believe my

United States supreme court cas e

14

in

People versus Kerr

Have there been plea negotiation.

3
4

(phonetic) .

MS .

There were plea negotiations

ZARKOS :

Rolling meadows back in 2006 ,

THE COURT :

MS .

THE COURT :

your Honor.

This is what class fel ony?

ZARKOS :

4.

Class

negotiations

less than the class

4 felony.

Did the

involve a plea of guilty to something

10

MS .

11

THE COURT :

12

MS .

13

have not

14

MS.

ZARKOS :

4 felony charge?
believe that is the case.

Is that offer s t i l l open?

ZARKOS :
--

believe i t is not

think it was

BONJEAN :

Yes ,

s t i l l open.

your Honor ,

my client wishes

to assert her right to proceed to trial on all

16

charges regardless of -- and I

17

are

19

rejected .

15

18

in

understand what you

She absolutely has the right to do

THE COURT :
that .

20

MS .

21

THE COURT :

BONJEAN :

But

Right .
I ' m not suggesting that

just want to make before we get to a

22

doesn't .

23

point where we go to triaJ .

24

felony.

she

And then says ,

She gets

found gui lty of

wait a minute ,

15

you mean,

1
2

MS.

THE COURT:

what i t is that

5
6

MS .

MS.

ZARKOS :
I

the offer .

understand .

she did reject .


I

misdemeanor plea .

know about this.

want to make sure we 'r e of record

BONJEAN :

THE COURT :

didn ' t

Right ,

BONJEAN:

could have had this.

believe she did reje ct a

Yes .
What was the o f fer
I

do not recall.

remember what the sentencing was ,

11

misdemeanor ,

13
14

did not make


I

don ' t

but it was a

your Honor.

THE COURT :
didn ' t

do believe i t was misdemean or .

10

12

if you recall?

Do you recall -- and yo u pr obably

represent her back then .

MS .

BONJEAN :

No ,

did not .

But my client has

15

indicated to me that even in this court building ,

16

there were three times offer s

17

a plea to a misdemeanor .

18

THE COURT :

19

recommended sentence.

20

MS .

BONJEAN:

extended that

In exchange for what

involved

kind of

She believes that there was no

21

jail time associated with that.

22

did do

23

close to a

24

unconstitutional and thrown out .

And ,

of course ,

she

jail time under the eavesdropping sta tute of


year and a

half that was ultimatel y held

16

So obviously she has done some time

already.

aware and knowingly rejected th ose plea offers

back --

In any event she still wishes and is fully

don't

wasn ' t on the case .

2006,

9
10

as
MS.

check .

know the exact date because I

But they were offered even after

understand and as Ms . Melongo represents.


Your Honor ,

ZARKOS :

could actually

I ' ve come late to this case.

I ' ve been on

for about a month.

11

could check with the former ASA.

12

I'm looking at the blue backs to see exactly what

13

kind of offer was made.

14

THE COURT :

Did it involve an offer of

15

supervision which under the law would not be a

16

conviction .

17

a misdemeano r

18

between those two .

19

And probation ,

condi tional discharge on

probably no substantive difference

Probation ,

conditional discharge on

20

the one hand ,

supervision on the other hand ,

21

substant ial dif f e r ence on its

22

MS .

23

THE COURT :

24

ZARKOS :

can -potential effect on somebody's

permanent record .

17

MS .

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

So I'd like to know just have i t of

record that she knew this

rejected it or --

MS .

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

MS .

THE COURT :

No problem.
-- whatever the case maybe

ZARKOS:

will find out .

We'll pass the case.


(Whereupon ,

10
11

* * * * *

13

THE COURT :
case .

Back on record with Ms.

What were you able to find out ,


MS .

ZARKOS:

building according to the ASA.

17

this building.

18

when the case first

19

hearing ,

23

24

Ms .

Zark os .

No offers made in

He believes that in Ro llin g Meadows


started in the pr o bable cause

there was an offer of a misdemean o r.

20

22

Mel ongo ' s

There were no offers made in this

16

21

the ca se was passed

and later recalled. )

12

15

and she

hereafter .

14

is what i t was,

It 's not reflected in this blue back.


THE COURT :

No sentence o f fer made in

connection with that offer of a misdemeanor.


MS.

ZARKOS :

misdemeano r.

He believes supervision,

But he does not have access.

It ' s

not

blue back in the blue back .

his record .

THE COURT :

MS .

THE COURT :

It ' s

not reflected in

That off er open now?


No .

ZARKOS :

All right.

Is that consistent with

your understanding of the plea of the history of the

case ,

you weren ' t involved then that

early on in Rolling Meadows an offer of plea of

Ms.

Bonjean ,

full

cognizant of the fact that


it ' s

2008 case

10

guilty to a misdemeanor with the recommendation that

11

supervision be offered was the offer .

12

MS .

Yes ,

BONJEAN:

believe that was the offer

My client seems to remember

13

that was made in 2006 .

14

that off er was renewed over the course of the

15

litigation over the last eight years .

16

And I

don ' t

know it was formalized.

17

It 's not - -

18

of the offer of misdemeanor with a

19

supervision back in 2006 .

20
21
22

but she is at a minimum perfectly aware


recommendation of

And at this point continues to wish to


respectfully reject that offer .
THE COURT :

Which she ' s

entitled to do .

want

I ' m not asking this because I

23

everybody to be clear .

24

think you aught to do one thing or the other ,

19

Ms. Melongo .

just want to make sure that

record is understood - -

offer for misdemeanor with a

supervision ,

or understand that you had an


recommended sentence of

and you rejected that ;

THE DEFENDANT :

THE COURT :

Yes ,

Then we ' re all set .

ready ,

put them on that side if you would .


THE SHERIFF :

11

MS .

12

THE COURT :

14

hand.

May we be seated?
Absolutely you may be seated.

Kelly yes .

Stand up and raise your right

Thank you .

15
16

You can

Everybody on this side .

ZARKOS :

Thank you ,

And if they ' re

when can bring our jurors in.

10

13

is that correct?

Judge .

Kelly ,

the

(Venire sworn. )
THE COUR T :

Thanks ,

folks .

You could be

I ' m going to call off 28 of your names.

17

seated .

18

this time.

19

last row all the way in the corner.

20

At

The first person will be seated in the

We ' ll go all the down the last row

21

then through the second row ,

22

fourth row beginning with Taneka Canter ,

23

c- a-n-t - e- r ,

24

R- e-d - d-i - n - g - e - r ,

Michael ,

the third row and the

B- a - r - c - a - s ,

first

name ,

T- a - n - e - k- a ,

James ,

Cruz ,

C-r-u - z ,

C-r - o - s - s - 1 - e - y ,

S- p - r - a - g - u - e ,

Patel ,

Ronald Davis ,

Ma ri a Moran ,

Niranjan ,

Mr .

M- o - r - a-n ,

N- i- r - a - n - j - a - n ,

Miss ,

John Sprague,
Niranjan

P - a - t-e - 1.

you will be the last seat in the

Patel ,

you will be the furthest

second row.

in the second row or third row depending on your

perspective .
Ernest Piazzi ,

D-e - a - n - d - r - e ,

10

name.

11

Ms.

Barbara ,

Is the first

Hernandez ,

what ' s

the first

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

13

THE COURT :
T-a - m- a - y - o ,

B- a - r - b - a - r - a,

Deandre,

is the first

name Tamayo or Maria.

12

14

P-i - a - z-z-i ,

seat

name?

Maria.

Maria Hernandez Tamayo ,

good afternoon .

15

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

16

THE COURT :

Good around.

Brenda Garcia ,

17

S - e - g - g - e - r - m- a - n,

18

like Sheridan Ro a d ,

Mol l y She r id a n ,
Michael Mourke ,

Mr . Mourke ,

19

Robert Seggerman ,
S - h - e - r - i - d-a-n
M- o - u - r - k - e.

you will be the furthest

20

seat in the -- y e s .

Marian Bialas ,

21

Marian ,

Tiffani with an I ,

22

T-i - f - f - a - n - i ,

Byrd ,

23

S - t - e - w- a - r - t ,

Nitirut ,

24

pronounce that correctly?

M- a - r - i - a - n ,

B- y - r - d ,

B- i-a - 1 - a-s,

Robert Stewart,

N- i - t - i - r - u - t ,

21

did I

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

THE COU RT:

Yes .

Good af te r n o on ,

Ch umasangsri ,

na me Luengo - Pe r ea ,

Ca rmicha e l ,

N- u - n - o - o .

C - h - u - m- a - s - a - n - g - s - r - i ,
L-u - e - n - g - o ,

dash ,

C- a - r - m- i - c - h - a -e- 1 ,
Did I

Last nam e ,
Victor ,

last

P-e - r - e - a ,

Anna

Pati e nc e Nun oo ,

pron o unce that correctly.

PROSPEC T IVE JUROR :

THE COURT :

Yes .

Good afternoon .

P -a - r - k ,

John 0 ' Sullivan ,

10

Montijo ,

M- o -n- t - i - j - o ,

11

S - t - e - m- p - i - e - n ,

12

s ir .

Min ,

M-i-n ,

Chris Robinson ,

Park ,

Jose

Charles S t empien ,

Stephen Fischer ,

F - i - s - c - h - e-r.

Good afternoon again ,

everybody.

I ' m the

13

told you thi s morning ,

14

judge here in Cook County Circuit Co urt who will be

15

presiding over thi s

16

upon to si t

17

my name is Tim Jo yce .

As

case in which you ' ve been called

as pro s pective

jurors .

The case of the people of the state of

18

Ill in o is versus Annabelle Melongo .

19

wan t

20

case in our court personn el .

First thing I

to do is to introduce you to the parties in the

21

The peopl e of the state of Illin oi s

22

th is ca se are represented by Cook County Assistant

23

State ' s Attorney Nancy Zarkos .

24

MS .

ZARKOS :

Good afternoon ,

22

ladies and

in

gentlemen of the jury .

2
3

MS .

THE COURT :
attorneys .

tomorrow ,

afternoon.
MS.

Jennifer Bonjean is here this

Good afternoon ,

Bonjean .
Judge.

Good

ladies and gentlemen.


And the attorney who will be here

tomorrow is Andrea Tatel .


MS .

14

THE COURT :

Correct.

BONJEAN :

Good afternoon ,

And the defendant is Ms.

Annabelle.

Ms . Melongo.

16

THE DEFENDANT :

17

THE COURT :

18

folks ,

19

you I

20

may know myself ,

21

Ms .

Good afternoon ,

BONJEAN :

13

15

Ms . Melongo is represented by two

THE COURT :

11

Dasgupta.

One of whom not here today but will be


Ms .

afternoon ,

Ms .

Good afternoon .

DASGUPTA :

12

Good afternoon ,

Debjani Dasgupta .

10

And Assistant State ' s Attorney

THE COURT :

and when I

Good afternoon.

First thing I

want to ask you,

say ask you I mean you and those of

have not called up yet do you know or think you


any of the att o rneys or Ms . Melongo?

If s o ,

please raise your hands.

22

hands are raised .

Our clerk is Samantha.

23

best one in the building .

24

maintaining the files

She ' s

No

She is the

responsible for

that we have in this room ,

23

the

many cases

ke e ping that you ' re resolved of and

keeping track of not on l y of the files but of the

orders that get entered by me concerning how those

cases will proceed through the criminal

system .

justice

She is also responsible for

6
7

administering oaths to witnesses and to perspective

to

now.

She

jurors .

just took on at her instance

just

Our sheriffs are Tim and Kelly.

10

They

They are the

11

are not among the best in the building .

12

best in the building .

13

maintaining security and order in the courtroom which

14

frankly

15

about

don ' t

They ' re responsible for

think you ' re going to have worry

in this instance .
Mostly -- for a bunch of reasons but

16
17

not the least of which was their abilities.

18

also responsible

19

care of you not only this afternoon ,

20

selected as

21

for minding you so to speak ,

They are
taking

but if you are

jurors .
This afternoon I

will be asking at

22

least those 28 of you who I

have called as

23

perspective

24

afternoon or perhaps later today ,

jurors certain questions.

24

If after this

you wish to

conversation not dire ctly with me ,

and Tim .
Say ,

Kelly ,

Tim ,

but through Kelly

I have to talk to the

judge about this or that.

appreciation of what it is that you wish to talk

about with me .

They will communicate with me.


And I will thereafter determine in

Give them some kind of

concert with the attorn eys and Ms . Melongo whether we

10

should talk with you and the manner in which I

11

talk with you .

12

should

So if you wish to speak with me after

13

I asked you questions here in open court initiate

14

that through Tim or Kelly.

15

Our court reporter is Adrienne

16

similarly the best in the building .

17

difficult cha llengi ng job of taking d own everything

18

in this room that gets said verbatim word for word.

19

She has the very

I mention in particular now because

20

when I

start asking those of you who are our 28

21

individual questions by the time I get to the sec ond

22

one of you ,

23

the questions I ask and the information I ' m seeking

24

to elicit .

you will know tha t

there is a pattern to

Even though yo u will

kn ow by the time

get to you what information I'm seeing to e licit ,

woul d beg you to wait until

question before up begin your answer.

have finan ced my

So Adrienne's very diffi cult

not made even more challenging by us

another .

you have finished your answer before

question.

And I,

10

in turn,

job is

talking over one

will endeavor to wait until

I'm going to talk a

begin the next

little bit this

11

afte rnoon about

12

wi l l apply in this case.

13

instructions on the law those will come at the end of

14

the case after you have heard all of the ev iden ce and

15

the arguments of the att o rneys.

16

some instructions on the law that


These are not you r

final

Those instruction will be read to you

17

here in open court .

18

writ ing in the

19

want to tell

20

give it to you .

21

And you will have them in

jury room when you deliberate.

you that you must

follow the

law as

do
I

You may not use your own ideas of what

22

you believe the law should be .

23

box.

24

dec ide these case is by call in g upon indi v id uals

It's a

jury box.

This

is not a

soap

And the manner in which we

26

drawn from our community.

And imposing upon them the

responsibilit ies to listen to the evidence t hat will

come from the witness stand that I ' m pointing at ,

law that I will give to you .

the

And in that way decide the case by

applying the law to the evidence and decide the case.

Nothing more and n o thing less .

case is charged with the offense computer tampering.

10

Ms . Melongo in this

She has pleaded not guilty .


More specifically ,

11
12

on or about April 28th ,

13

about May 1 ,

14

she knowingly and without authorization of the

15

comp uter owner accessed the computer program and data

16

or any part thereof and altered the co mput er program

17

and data with the intent to commit an offense

18

e st a blished under the Illinois crime law ;

19

that on or about May 1 ,

20

acce ssed Save a Life Foundation ,

21

founder ' s computer e - mail through her c ompu ter wh ich

22

was physically located in Schiller Park Illinois and

23

accessed the e - mails of Carol Spizzirri ,

24

Foundation Incorporated ' s president and founder.

2006 ,

2006 ,

it is charged that

and continuing to on or

she committed that offense in that

2006 ,

27

to wit ,

Annabelle Melongo
Incorporated ,

Save a Life

These acts were done without the

1
2

authorization ,

owne r.

guilty .

knowledge or consent o f

To that crime Ms.

Melongo has pleaded not

This charge ,

the computer's

ladies and gentlemen,

i s

contained in a document called the indictment.

You

must remember -- i t ' s absolutely that you remember

that the indictment is not to be co n sidered by you as

evidence against Ms.

Melongo nor does the law allow

10

you to draw any inference or presumpti on as to her

11

guilt simply because she has been cha r ged .

12

That document is simply the formal way

13

in which Ms .

14

to re ad you a

15

whethe r

16

Melongo is placed on trial.


list of witnesses .

don't

I ' m going
know

all these witness will testify or not.


Oftentimes not all of the witnesses

17

testify .

18

believe I'm very confident that this matter will be

19

conclud ed by Wednesday o f

20

In my discussion with the attorneys ,

do

this week .

I'd ask you to listen carefully to

21

these witnesses names .

22

from what agency.

23

MS.

24

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

William Marti n

is a detecti v e

Schiller Park P o lice Department.


Schiller Park Police Detective

28

William Martin Ms .

Carol Spizzirri ,

S-p-i - z - z - i - r - r-i ,

Ms .

Peters ,

S- c - h - i - f - f ,

Shawna Voita ,

Vincent Davis ,

Yaniv ,

Y- a - n-i - v ,

from Forensic Con

Schiff,

John Schuldt,
Do you - -

Barbara Richardson.

and

S - c - h - u - 1-d -t,

again not only you 28 ,

courtroom know or think you may know any of those

persons?

10

but all of you in the

If so please raise your hand .

gentleman has raised his hand ,


What ' s

11

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

13

THE COURT :

14

PROSPEC TI VE JUROR :

15

THE COURT :

16

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

17

THE COURT :

18

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

19

THE COURT :

sir .

Joseph L .

Joseph L .

One

not one of our 28 .

your name ,

12

Houdek .

Houdek .

Yes ,

Joe ,

you can me.

H-o - d - e - k .

H- o-u-d-e - k .

beg your pardon.


That ' s

Thank you .

all right.

You can be seated,

20

Anybody else?

21

to read you several instructions now ,

22

Don

(phonet ic ) .

Victor Rodriguez ,

a V- o - i - t-a ,

No other hands are raised.

First ,

sir.

do want

folks.

under the law the defendant is

23

presumed to be innocent of the charges against him.

24

This presumption remains with her throug hout every

29

stage of the tr i al and during your deliberations on

you r

verdict .

And it is not overcome unless

from all

4 I

the evidence ,

doubt that the defendant is guilt y .

here who does not understand this instruction.

7 I

so ,

reasonable

Is there anyone

No hands are raised .

Is there anyone

here who does not accept or will not


If s o ,

10

instruction ?

11 I

hands are raised .

12

Second ,

follow this

please raise your hand .

proving the guilt of the defendant b e yond a

14

reasonable doubt .

15 I

state throughout this case .

16

No

the state has the burden of

13 I

And this burden remains on the

Is there anyone here who does not

17

understand this instruction?

18

hand .

19 I

does not -- who will not

20

this instruction?

21 I

hands are raised.

22

If

please raise your hands.

9 I

you are convinced beyond a

No hands are raised.

If so ,

Third ,

If so please raise your


Is there anyone here who

follow or does not accept


please raise your hand.

the defendant

No

is not required

23 I

to prove her innocence nor is she required to present

24

any evidence on her behalf .

30

Is there anyone here who

does not understand this instruction.

raise your hand .

If so,

No hands are raised.

Is there anyone here who do e s

accept or will not follow this instru c tion ?

please raise your hand.


Fourth ,

ple a se

no t
If so ,

No hands are raised .


if the de f endant ch o ose s n ot

to testify ,

the fa ct that sh e chooses not to testify

may not be held against her in arriving at your

verdict .

Is there anyone here who does understand


If so ,

10

this instruction?

11

No hands are raised.

12

please raise your hands.

Is there anyone here who d oe s


-- is there anyone here who does n o t

13

or

14

will not follow this instruction?

15

raise you r

16

hand.
I

not

a cc ep t

If so ,

or

ple as e

And no hands are raised.


do believe the police officers may

17

testify in this matter .

18

of

19

differently than any other witnesses '

20

That is ,

Under the law the testim o ny

a police officer is not to be treated any


testimon y .

a police officer ' s

tes t im ony

21

is entitled to no grea t er or lesser weight than an y

22

other person's testimony simply because of that

23

persons '

24

status as a police officer.


Is there anyone else - -

31

is ther e

anyone here rath e r

instruction?

hands are rai se d .

If

who will not follow this

so ,

You ,

p l ea s e

r ai s e your hands .

ladies and gentlemen,

No

that is to

say those of you who are selected as

case are the judges of the facts of the case.

and only you will determine which if any of the

witnesses to be believe and the weight to be given to

their testimony .

10

jurors in this
You

It ' s my job to determine the law in

11

this case and what evidence you may here and

12

c on sider .

13

give it to you .

14

e vi dence ,

15

instructions on the law ,

16

jury to deliberate upon your verdicts.

17

It will be your duty to follow the law as


After you have heard all the

the arguments of the attorneys and those


you will then retire to the

If you are convinced from all the

18

evidence in the case that the state has pr oven

19

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a

20

be your duty to find her guil t y .

21

reasonable doubt,

it will

If you are not convinced that the

22

state has proved Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a

23

reasonable doubt ,

24

Ms.

it wi ll be your duty to find

Melongo not guilty .

32

Whatever verdict you reach ,

it will be

And you will not have to explain or

your own .

ju stify it to anyone.

repeat this thr oughout the trial not

throughout the period of tim e when we hear evidence

in this case that you are not to arrive at any

decisions or conclusions of any kind until you have

he ard all the evidence ,

attorney s , my instructions on the law ,

10

It

is essential -- and I

will

just today,

but

the arguments of the


and you ' ve

begun your deliberations in the jury room.

11

That includes not discussing the case

12

until you begin your deliberations in the

13

with friends ,

14

yoursel f

15

instructions on the law and the attorney's ar guments

16

and begun your deliberations.

family members,

strangers ,

jury room
ev en

until you have heard all the evidence and my

17

I don't

know whether there ' s been any

18

publicity in connection with this case or will be.

19

Whether there is or is not is absolutely no moment to

20

me whatsoever .

21

Whether there is however ,

you are not

22

to read or view or listen to an ything t hat may be

23

connected with this case includ in g books ,

24

newspape r

articles ,

magazines,

or tele v ision or news rep orts .

33

Whether there ' s publicity or not,

you

are not to go to the sc e ne of any occurrence which

you hear about any evidence nor are you to conduct

any experiments on your own.

You are not to conduct any of your own

research or read materials on your own which you may

believe might touch upon the case ;

folks ,

purportedly relates to the issues in this case,

in other words ,

if you hear evidence or terminology that


you

10

are not to go home and check the internet ,

11

books or materials or consult with any other persons,

12

persons you know or people you don ' t

13

raised by the test i mony or about the law which you

14

bel ie ve might apply to th e case .

15

about issu es

The law that applies to the case is

16

t he law that I

17

instruction at the end of the case .

18

will give you as we go along and in my

You must rely on the eviden c e that you

19

see here in this courtroom .

20

law that

21

read any

The instruction on the

I will give you in open court .


I want to mention something in

22

particular about the internet .

The internet is a

23

tremendou s boon to a community ,

country - -

24

boon to civil i zation in our world .

34

tremendous

Changed our

lives,

ways.

and changed many of the lives

I'm not all that technologically up on

things.

sometimes when

think well,

out.

8
9

in measurable

But

I'm familiar enough to

know that

jurors are selected for cases,

they

go on the internet to find something

Or I ' l l

find something out that on

that quest or Google maps about this or I ' l l go to

10

this

restaurant to find out what

11

go a

Google this person's name or that person's name.

12

You can't do it.


And the reason you can't do it is

13
14

because the internet

15

some of us have.

16

in your family.

is like that brother-in-law that

Great guy.

You're glad that he's

And you're glad that

17

He's that wonderful.

18

family.

19

with him.

20

of miss information.

21

on some issues.

22

the law is or I ' l l

you 're in his

You love spending time

But every once in a while,

he has a mass

He is as wrong as wrong can be

And that's the deal with the internet.

23

If you go somewhere thinking well,

24

the law about computer crimes is,

35

I ' l l find out what


you can go on.

And

yo u can all of a

compute r

Cal if o rnia ,

sudden be reading something about

crime in the state of New York ,


the state of Wyoming.
Now ,

the state of

can guarantee you whatever the

law is in Wyoming or New York or Californ ia ,

differe nt than the law in Illin oi s.

it ' s

You can go and try to find o ut

something on the internet about this person or that

per s on or about this place o r

10

that place ,

and you

ca n't gu arantee that you ' re correct.


And the reason you can ' t

11
12

for

several hundred years now ,

13

or endeavoring to de cid e

14

op en public arena .

15

ev ery o ne's inv olv eme nt of the public ' s

16

th ey wish to see what happens.

17

do i t because

we ha ve been seeking

these ca ses.

Doing it in an

Under the bright lights of


presence if

In the presence of 12 strangers or 12

18

persons from our community to listen to the evidence

19

th at gets adduced in op en court .

20

or not believed as they may deem fit .

21

And gets beli eved

They apply the law that a

jud g e gives

22

th em.

It is the law that will apply in thi s

23

An d you go back and you decide this way :

24

decide i t based on things that you don't hear about

36

case .

If you

about in open court,

you 'r e deciding on things that

attorneys don ' t have the opportunity to test its

correctness ,

its truthfulness or its accuracy.

If you think it ' s

true i t ' s really

So much so perhaps that if

tremendously unfair.

you ' re selected as a

askin g you not to go on the intern et in connection

with this case ,

internet in connection with this case until such time

10

juror in this case,

I'm not

I ' m ordering you not to look on the

as the case is over .


And you ' ve been discharged from your

11

When I

say that you

12

responsibil ity in this case .

13

can ' t use the internet if you ' re a

14

I'm not saying that at all.

15

whatever manner you deem to with regard to your

16

e -mails,

17

surf the net about this subject or that subject

18

whatever strikes your fancy as you surf the net

19

sometimes .

20

juror in the case?

Use the internet in

your communications with family and friends,

Sometimes when you surf the net,

you

21

don ' t

even know what 's going to strike your fancy,

22

right?

23

not to look at it for anything in connection with

24

this case until you're discharged from your

Why we call it surfing ,

37

suppose.

You ' re

responsibil ities.

Now ,

a violation of this order could

subject you to contempt of Court because you ' ll be

violating a

this because I

do ,

court order.

Now ,

I'm not saying all

expect any of you to do you shouldn't

quite the cont rary.


But you can imagine I'm going on in

this matter because perhaps it ' s

past .

10

happened in the

And the whole railroad gets screwed up because

are doing things that they shouldn't be doing.


That's why I ' m ordering you is you ' re

11
12

selected as a

13

anything on the internet or any other place or talk

14

to any other p ersons about this until you ' re

15

discharged from your responsibilities.

16

juror in this case not to look at

You are not to concern yourself with

17

p ossi ble punishment or sent ence for the offense

18

charged during your deliberations .

19

function of the trial

20

should there be a verdict of guilty .

21

It

will be the

judge to determine the sentence

At this tim e,

f olks ,

I ' m going ask you

22

some questions about yourselves that relate to your

23

qualifications to serve as

24

the attorn eys will have the opportunity to ask

jurors .

38

When I'm done ,

question as to matters

I don ' t

have not inquired about.

want any of you to feel that

we're trying to embarrass you or put you on the spot

or pry into your personal affairs .

our way of seeking to learn something about you,

that the parties can make informed decisions during

the

so

jury selection process.


But before I

This is merely

last thing I

10

the finest

11

that .

begin that ,

want to say.

there's one

We live in what I

nation on earth.

consider

All sorts of reasons for

I 'm not going to list any of them now .

12

They relate to many of the rights that

13

we enjoy no simply because we 're citizens or not

14

bec ause we 're citizens but simply because we happen

15

to be.

A few of those rights

16

speech ,

freedom of press ,

17

trial .

18

include freedom of

right to an open and public

We can argue endlessly I

suppose as

19

which one of those rights are more important than

20

other ,

21

right though which I

but we ' re not going to do that.

22

There is one

call the great right.

Without which all those other rights

23

are rendered unenforceable ,

24

And that 's th e

right to a

and thereby meaningless.

jury trial.

39

Any one of us

in a dispute with our neighbor or some billion dollar

corporation o r

drawn of 12 citizens from our community who would sit

in a

to the evidence presented by the attorneys ,

law instructed by a

ou r

government can insist upon a

jury box in an open and public courtroom ,

jury

listen

apply the

judge .

They would have to thereafter decide


And however they decided the case,

however

the case.

much we or our neighbor or that corporation or our

10

government liked it ,

11

it has to be accepted.

If you think that through,

12

pretty heavy stuff and a

13

the face of this earth.


Now ,

14

that's

right not enjoyed by many o n

the reason I ' m going in this

15

little mini physics lesson -- and I

16

most of you know all this any way -- the reason I

17

in this regard is because everyone once in while

18

and I

19

people make up reasons to get out of jury service.

20

hope not today --

don ' t

doubt that
go

suspect that sometimes

It ' d be a mistake for a number of

21

reasons first off it ' d be a violation of the oath you

22

took to tell the truth not too long ago.

23

this promises to be an interesting case in my

24

preliminary discussion with the parties.

40

Second,

It won ' t

take too long to present.

You 'r e not going to be here until next week b y any

stretch.

first

hav e proceede d us

ju st men and woman of the arm services,

them .

And the last thing I

consider or lastly consider men and woman who


inn the history of this country not

But many others from al l

8
9

would ask is that you

across all social economic ,

ethnic ,

certainly

walks of life

racial strata who

10

hav e made over the course of this country's history

11

gre at sacrifice and dear and unspeakable pain and in

12

many instances paid the ultimate pri ce ju st s o you

13

and I

14

we do today .

can enjoy the wonderful panoply o f

15

rights that

Those people know and one day we all

16

know that the last pleasure in life is th e

17

having discharged our resp on sibilities .

18

19

Canter .
TANEKA CANT ER ,
a prospective juror was examined as

22

EXAMINATI ON

23

BY THE COURT :

24

Let us begi n

hope consis tent with th o se sentiments with Taneka

20
21

sense of

Hello ,

Ms .

Ca nter?

41

follows :

Hello .

You reside in the south suburbs ?

Ye s .

How long have you li ved there?

To tal y ears,

Do you own o r

Rent .

Who do you live there with?

My tw o ch ildren.

10

You r

11

Yes .

12

What

13

A nurse .

14

Place wh ere you work how long have you had

15

that

six years .
rent?

two children are scho ol aged?

kind of work do you do?

job?

16

Co mmunity care seven months .

17

What did you do befo r e

18

Lamont Nursing and Rehabilitation for two

19

that?

years .

20

Never served on a

21

No .

22

Any friend or family members in law

23

en f orcem ent?

24

No .

42

jury before?

Ever been the victim of a

No .

Any close friend or family ever been the

victim o f

crime?

crime?

No .

Have you ever been arrested or charged in

conn ection in a criminal case?


I ' m going to ask each and every one

THE COURT :

of you that question.

And I ' m not asking have you

10

ever got a speeding ticket for driving five or ten

11

miles over the limit or have you ever gotten a ticket

12

for running a

13

ever been arrested or charged in driving under the

14

influence charge ,

15

anyth ing more serious that -- marijuana ,

16

substances ,

17

misdemeanor ,

red light .

am asking you have you

driving on a

heroin or cocaine ,

suspended license ,
controlled

any offense ,

felony.
It doesn ' t

18

matter to m.

I ' m not going

19

to ask you whether you were guilty or not guilty.

20

I ' m not going to ask you whe ther you were

21

ultimate outcome of the case was.

22

if you were arrested and what the charge was and when

23

it happened .

24

what the

do want to know

You could pretty much figure out if

43

you were handcuffed by the police ,

after being photographed and/or fingerprinted and

answered to a

dismissed ,

spent a

penitentiary or got f ound not guilty ,

know have you ever been arrested or charged in

connection with a criminal case .

BY THE COURT :

10

brought to court

charge whether the charge was

whether you got supervision ,

probation,

little time in jail or went t o the

So I ' ll ask you again ,

11

ever been arrested o r

12

crim inal case?

Ms .

still want to

Ca nter ,

have you

charged in connection with a

13

Yes .

14

And when was that?

15

1996 .

16

1990.

17

6.

18

What was the nature o f

19

Cannabis charge .

20

Was that in Cook County?

21

Yes.

22

In Chicago or outside Chicago?

23

Markham .

24

Any other instances besides that?

44

the charge?

No .

If after you heard everything in t his c a se ,

the evidence ,

were convinced that the state proved Ms .

g uilty beyond a

guil ty v erdict?

the arguments and my instr uctions ,

reasonable doubt ,

Melongo

would you sign a

Yes .

If after you heard you were n o t

conv inced ,

would you sign a

Ye s.

11

Any reason you can think o f

si t

so

not guilt y ve r d i ct?

10

12

you

why you can ' t

o n this case?

13

14

THE COURT :

No .
And that questio n

r e l a t e s,

15

t o y o u a prepaid ticket to go to Brazil ,

16

an elderly person who needs a

17

c h i ld wh o needs a

18

l ot

c ar i n g for

lot of help ,

youn g

of help .

And there ' s


that pers o n .

folks ,

nobody else th a t

19

c are o f

20

tom orr o w or Wednesday ,

21

BY THE COURT:

22

Anything like tha t ,

23

Not within the next two day s ,

24

THE COURT :

can take

You ' re undergoing su rg e r y


an y thing like th at anything .

Ms.

Michael Barcas .

45

Ca n t e r?
no .

MICHAEL BARCAS ,
a prospect i ve

juror was exam i ned as follows:

EXAMINATION

BY THE COURT :

Michael Barcas?

Yes .

Hel l o ,

Mr .

Ba r cas .

You reside on the south

side of the city?

Yes .

10

How long you lived th e re?

11

All my life .

12

Who do you live there with?

13

Nobody .

14

You have two adult children?

15

Yes .

16

Where ar e they doing?

17

One ' s a school teacher .

18

19
20

Turner Satler
Q

The other one 's at

(phonetic) .

You work for the city of Chicago in the

police motor p ool?

21

Yes .

22

You ' re not a police officer or are you?

23

No .

24

How long you had that

46

job?

Ten years .

You served on a

jury trial in the year 2000

at the Daley center?

Yes .

Was that a civil case?

Yes .

What kind of case was it?

Car accident .

10

don ' t

want to know what the verdict was,

but did you reach a verdict?

11

Yes.

12

Were you the f oreperson of that

13

No.

14

Any friends or family members in law

15

enforcement?

16

No .

17

Ever been the victim of a c rime?

18

Yes.

19

How so?

20

Armed robbery.

21

When did that take place?

22

45 years ago.

23

Any close friends

24

victim of a c r ime?

47

jury?

or family ever been the

No .

Have you ever been arrested or charged with

a crimin0l case yourself?

No.

If after you ' ve heard everything you're

convinced that the state proved Ms.

beyond a

verd ict?

reasonable doubt ,

Melongo guilty

would you sign a guilty

Yes.

10

If after you heard everything ,

11

you were not

so convinced would you sign a not guilty verdict?

12

Yes .

13

Any reason you can think of why you can't

14
15

sit on this case?


A

No.

16
17

JAMES REDDINGER ,
a prospective juror was examined as foll ows :

18

EXAMINATION

19

BY THE COURT :

20

James Reddinger?

21

Yes .

22

Hello ,

23

24

Mr .

Reddinger .

north suburbs?
A

Yes.

48

You reside in the

How long have you lived there ,

16 years .

Do you own or rent?

Own .

Who do you live there with?

My wife and children .

Chi l dren are school aged?

Yes .

Four of them ,

10

Yes .

11

Pretty busy .

12

13

How long have you worked for that

14

18 months .

15

What did you do before that?

16

Have a

17

sir?

huh?

What

kind of work do yo u do ?

run an energy company .


job?

small business here in Chicag o

f itness business .

18

Fitness business?

19

Mm - hmm .

20

What

21

Chiropractor.

22

Ever served on a

23

No .

24

Any fr i ends or family members in law

kind of work does your wif e

do?

jury before?

49

e n f o rcement?

Yes .

Who would that be?

A cousin in the martial ser v i ce in

Pen nsyl v ania.

Ever been the vict i m of a

Business has ,

Any close friend o r

the v i c tim of a

crime?

but me pers o n a ll y ,
family membe r

No .

11

Ever been arrested or charge d

wi th a

ever b een

crime?

10

12

no .

i n connection

criminal case y ourself?

13

No .

14

If

after you heard everyt h i ng you we r e

15

conv in c ed that the state ' s

16

Ms .

17

y o u sign a gui l ty verdict?

evidence pr ove d

Melongo guilty beyond a

reasonabl e

doub t

woul d

18

Yes .

19

If after you heard everyth i ng y ou we r e

20

s o c o nvinced ,

would you sign a not guilt y v er d i ct ?

21

Yes .

22

Any reason y o u can think o f

23
24

si t

not

wh y you can ' t

o n this case?

do have travel this week f o r

50

b usiness .

And when 's that?

Starting tomorrow morning.

When did you make the travel plans?

Several weeks ago .

Would it have been after you got th e

summons?

Jury summons go out pretty e arl y ,

couldn ' t

tell you.

Jason Ellis.

THE COURT :

11

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

12

THE COURT :

Right here .

The wrong stack .

a prospective juror was examined as


EXAMINATION

17

BY THE COURT:

18

Cruz Crossley .

19

Yes .

20

Hello ,

21

Hi.

22

You reside in the

24

Mr .

Ellis.

CRUZ CROSSLEY ,

16

23

Sorry ,

You 're number 29 though .

14
15

s everal

weeks ago .

10

13

jury

Ms.

Crossley .

suburbs?
A

follows:

Yes .

51

kind of south,

south west

How long you ' ve lived there .

15 years.

You own or rent?

Rent.

Who do you live there with?

With my parents and my son .

And your son is

just barely into scho ol ,

suspect?

Yes.

10

What kind of work do you do?

11

I'm in sales and marketing insurance .

12

For what kind of a company?

13

Insurance.

14

Insurance?

15

Mm - hmm .

16

How long ha v e

17

Over ten years .

18

Never been on a

19

No .

20

Any friends or family members in l a w

21

enforcement?

22

No .

23

Ever been the victim of a crime?

24

Yes .

you had that

job?

jury before ?

52

How so?

Stolen car .

Any close friend or family member ever been

the victim of a crime?

No.

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

with a criminal case yourself?

No .

After you heard all the evidence ,

the

10

arguments of the attorneys ,

and my instruc t i ons if

11

you ' re conv inced that the state proved Ms . Melongo

12

guilty beyond a

13

guil ty verdict ?

reasonable doubt ,

would you sign a

14

Yes .

15

If after you heard everything you were not

16

so convinced ,

would you sign a not guilt y v er dict?

17

Ye s.

18

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

19
20

21
22

sit on this case?

No .
RONALD DAVIS ,

a prospective juror was examined as

23

EXAMINATION

24

BY THE COURT :

53

follows:

Ronald Davis .

Yes .

Hello ,

How are you .

Good thanks .

Mr .

Davis .

You reside in the western

suburbs?

Yes .

How l ong you ' ve lived there?

21 years .

10

You on or rent?

11

Own .

12

Who do you live there with?

13

Wife and daughter .

14

Your daughter is probably in school?

15

Yes ,

college .

16

What

kind of work do you do?

17

( Inaudible ) .

18

How long have you had that

job?

19

This present

half months

20

prior to that 14

(inaudible)

21

What

22

She ' s

23

You were on a

24

job two and a

kind of work does your wife do?


unemployed .
jury back in 2004

Daley Center?

54

in the

Yes.

Civil case?

Yes .

What

A gentleman sued the city of Chicago.

For what?

Sidewalk ,

I don't want to know what the verdict was.

kind of case?

he injured himself.

Did you reach a verdict?

10

Yes ,

11

Were you the foreperson for that

12

No .

13

Any friends or family members in law

14

enforcement?

15

No.

16

Ever been the victim of a crime?

17

No .

18

Any close friend or family member ever been

19

we did .
jury?

the victim of a crime?

20

No .

21

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

22

with a criminal case yourself?

23

No.

24

If after you ' ve heard everything you were

55

convinced Ms . Melongo was proved guilty beyond a

reasonable doubt by the state 's evidence ,

sign a guilty verdict?

would you

Yes.

If after you ' ve heard everything you were

not so convinced ,

verdict?

would you sign a not g u i lty

Yes .

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

10

sit o n this case?

11

No .

12
13

JOHN SPRAGUE ,
a prospective juror was examined as follows:

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT :

16

John Sprague .

17

Yes .

18

Hello ,

19

west ,

Mr .

Sprague .

You reside in the

southwest suburbs.

20

Yes .

21

How long you ' ve lived there ,

22

20 years .

23

You own or rent?

24

Own .

56

sir ?

Who do you live there?

My wife and two children .

Your two children are school aged?

One in college .

What

Insurance underwriter .

How long have you had the

One

in high school.

kind of work do you do?

job at

present company you ' re at?

A little over two years .

10

What did you do before that?

11

Underwriting .

12

Never served on a

13

No .

14

Any close friends

15

enforcement?

16

No.

17

Ever been the victim of a

18

My ca r

19

Any close friends

20

the

jury before?

or family members in law

crime?

broken into 35 years ago.

been victim the of a

or family member ever

crime?

21

No .

22

Ever been arrested or charged in c onnection

23

24

with a

criminal case yourself?


No .

57

If after you ' ve heard everything you were

convinced that the state ' s

excuse

doubt ,

evidence proved Mr .

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a

reasonable

would you sign a guilty verdict?

Yes .

If after you heard everything you were n o t

so convinced ,

would you sign a not guilty verdict?

Yes .

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

10
11

sit on this case?


A

No.

12

13

MARIA MORAN ,
a prospective juror was examined as follows:

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT :

16

Maria Moran .

17

Yes .

18

Hello ,

19

Hi .

20

What ' s

21

(Unintelligible)

22

Still didn ' t

23

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

24

THE COURT :

Ms . Moran.

I 'm a

little nervous .

that?

hear you?
She ' s

am t oo ,

58

but

a little nervous.
I

try not to let it

show.

BY THE COUR T:

You reside on - -

worry about it .

the city?

you ' re

just find .

You reside on the southwest side of

Yes .

How long have you lived there?

Eight years .

Who do you live th er e with?

10

11

No ,

who do you live with?

12

Oh ,

my family.

13

Yes .

14

Yes ,

15

Children?

16

My children ,

17

What do you do for a

18

Sorry .

19

What do you do for

21

Oh ,

22

Okay .

20

23

24

live there before in Cicero .

my family .

three children ,

my husband.

living?

living.

What's your

job?
my job is a custodian .
And for a

government agency,

correct?
A

Don't

(No r esponse) .

59

custodian for the government?

No ,

custodian is the

janitor,

janitor,

clean out the school .

For the Chicago public schools?

Yes ,

How long you had that

14

Okay.

11

The company factory .

12

Are all or some of your kids still in

13

school?

14

Yes ,

15

Some of your kids are out of school ?

16

-- little boy is the oldest in college,

18

Are any of your kids working?

19

My big son .

20

What's he doing?

21

(Unint elligible ) .

22

10

17

23

24

For

the city of Chicago?

3
4

You ' re a

sir.
job?

years.
What

kind of work does

your husband

do?

yes my --

now.

have an accent .

English is not your first


A

No ,

it ' s

You have an accent to o .

language or is it?

not very well.

60

1
2

Do you understand everything I

today?

But not everything?

Not everything .

Okay .

understand a

little bit .

I ' ll come b a ck to you in a bit.


NIRANJAN PATEL ,

a prospective juror was examined as

f ollows :

EXAMINATION
BY THE COURT :

10
11

Ni ranjan Patel .

12

Yes .

13

Hello ,

14

have said

Mr .

Patel .

You reside in the far

northwest suburbs?

15

Yes .

16

How long you lived there ,

17

About ten years .

18

Do you own o r

19

20

Who do you live there with?

21

My wife .

22

What

23

24

How long have you had that

sir?

went?

own .

k i nd of work do you do?

own and manage a distributin g business .

61

job?

Around eight years.

What

She ' s

You have two adul t

Yes ,

But what?

They ' re only with us .

What do they do for a

They all working ,

10

kind of work does


a

your wife d o?

housewife.

do ,

children?

but they ' re onl y wit h us.

liv i ng ?

both of them wo rkin g i n

the firm.

11

For another firm?

12

Pardon me.

13

For another firm?

14

Yes .

15

What

16

My daughter wo rk in the co mp s h are with the

17

kind of form?

Chic ago downtown ,

computer compan y .

18

And how about your other child?

19

My other son is working with me in the

20

l iqu o r

business .

21

You served o n a

22

Yes .

23

In Chicago?

24

Downtown ,

jury 11 years ag o ?

Where?

Downt o wn ?

Daley Center.

62

1
2

In the Daley Center or in the Federal

Building?

Daley Center .

What

It was a tenant ,

kind of case was it?

don ' t

landlord ,

tenant case.

want to know what the verdict was,

but did you reach a verdict?

Yes.

Were you the foreperson

10

No .

11

Ever been -- any friends or family members

12

for that

jury?

in law enforcement?

13

No .

14

Ever been the victim of a crime?

15

No .

16

Any close friend or family member ever been

17

a victim of a

crime?

18

No .

19

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

20

with a criminal case yoursel f ?

21

No .

22

If after you ' ve heard everything ,

23

evidence ,

24

law ,

the

the argument and my instructi ons on the

if you were convinced that the state proofed

63

Ms .

Melongo guilty beyond a

you sign a

reasonable doubt,

guilty verdict?

Yes .

If after you heard everything,

would

so convinced ,

would you sign a

you were not

not guilty verdict?

Yes.

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

8
9

sit on this case?


A

No.

10
11
ERNEST

12
13

a prospective

PIAZZI ,

juror was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT :

follows:

16

Ernest

Piazzi?

17

Yes .

18

Hello ,

19

Hello.

20

You reside in the far northwest suburbs?

21

Yes .

22

How have you lived there ,

23

46 years .

24

Do you own or rent?

Mr .

Piazzi .

64

sir?

Own .

Who do you live there with?

My wife ,

What do you do for a

I ' m retired .

What did you do?

Letter carrier .

And what

10

She ' s

11

my daughter ,

and my two grand

kids.
li ving?

kind of work does your wife do?

an assistant ,

administrative

assistant .

12

In what industry o r

13

Electronics .

14

You have two kids ,

15

We have two kids .

16

Wha t

My son is in heating and air cont in uing .

17
18

living ,

the tw o adult

kids?

And my daughter works for

20

service for X- rays .

22

correct?

do they do for a

19

21

job or line of work?

were o n a

Never been on a
jury before .

23

Here .

24

How long ago?

Phillips in customer

jury before -- should be

Where?

65

l
2

A
it ' s

couldn't tell you the exact year ,

been at

least five

years ,

fo u r

or f ive years.

Do you remember what the charge was?

Ye s .

Wha t

Murder .

but

was it?

don't want to know what the verdict was.

Did you reach a verdi ct?

Yes .

10

Were you the foreperson

11

No.

12

Ever been the victim o f

13

Yes .

14

How so?

15

Vandalized and -- for my car and ra dio

16
17
18

for

that

jury?

crime?

sto l en and damage to the ca r .


Q

Any close friend or family member ever been

the vict im of a

crime?

19

Yes .

20

Who wo uld that be?

21

My wife .

22

How was she victimized?

23

She had her purse snatched in the city on

24

Michi gan avenue ,

and that was her.

66

AnJ

fr ienct~ Or f offiilj memQ~lu

enforcement?

Yes.

Who would that be?

6
7

one ,

have a

it ' s his son ,


Q

Now ,

friend that ' s


he ' s

the

judge,

where does

if you know?

It ' s

10

A Cook County judge or a

11

No ,

12

You said it ' s

13

It ' s

14

What ' s his name?

15

William Wise .

16

William Wise?

17

Mm - hmm .

18

judge and another

an attorney.

the friend who ' s

he or she work ,

ln law

in Cook County .

federal

judge?

think i t ' s a Cook County judge.


a him or a her?

a him .

don ' t

know what branch or

district .

19

How l on g have you known Judge Wise?

20

Three years .

21

You ever talk t o him lately?

22

At his brother ' s

23
24

funeral

last time we

talked to him .
Q

Ever talk to him about his work about his

67

cases?

He doesn ' t

like to do anything

with that kind of stuff.

4
5

Not really .

Q
with a

Ever been arrested or charged in connection


case yourself?

No .

If after you heard ever y thing you ' re

convinced that the stat e proved Ms .

beyond a

10

verdict?

reasonable doubt ,

Melongo guilty

would you sign a

guilty

11

Yes .

12

If after you heard everything you were no

13

so convin ced would you sign a

not guil ty verdict?

14

Yes.

15

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

16

sit on this case?

17
18
19

have a medical problem ,

What ' s

but

don ' t

know

if
the natu r e

of the -- does the nature

20

of the

21

pr o hibit you from being down here f or a

22

hours a day?

23

No ,

24

Related to your knees or

the problem ' s

none of my business.

Does it

si x to eight

but getting down here is tough on me .

68

joints or sitting

for a

long time?

heart problem.

Heart problem?

Yeah ,

You take med i cation for

Yes .

Okay.

have a

have a

defibrillator ,

pacemaker.

that?

I ' ll come back to you in a bit.

8
9

10
11
12
13

DEANDRE BARBARA ,
a prospective

ju r or was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT :

16

Deandre Barbara?

17

Yes .

18

Hello ,

19

Mr .

Barbara .

follows:

You reside on the

south side?

20

Yes .

21

How long you've lived there ,

22

14 years .

23

You own or rents?

24

My mother owns.

69

sir?

What kind of work do you do?

I'm a veterinarian technician.

How long have you had that

Six years.

Before that you would have been in school?

Yes.

No children?

No children.

Never served on a

10

No .

11

Any friends or family members in la w

12

enforcement?

13

No.

14

Ever been the victim of a crime?

15

No.

16

Any close friend or family members ever

17

job?

jury before?

been the victim of a crime?

18

No .

19

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

20

with a criminal yourself?

21

No .

22

If after you ' ve heard every thing you were

23

convinced that the state's evidence proved

24

Ms.

Melongo guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,

70

would

you sign a guilty verdict?

Yes .

If after you heard everything you were not

so convinc ed ,

would you sign a

not guilty verdict?

Yes.

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

7
8

sit on this c a se?

No .

9
10
11
12
13

MARIA HERNANDEZ TAMAYO ,


a prospective juror was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT :

follows:

16

Maria Hernandez Tamayo?

17

Yes .

18

Hello ,

19

Hello .

20

You resided on the south side of the city?

21

Yes .

22

How long you ' ve lived there?

23

21 years .

24

Do you own or rent?

Ms .

Hernandez Tamay o .

71

Rent .

Who do you live with?

By myself .

What

Secretarial work .

And secreta rial wo rk at a dental off ice?

Yes .

How long you had that

16 years .

10

Eve r

11

No .

12

No children?

13

No .

14

Any friends

15

enfo r cem ent?

16

No .

17

Ever been the victim of a

18

No .

19

Any close friends

20

victim of a

kind of work do you do?

served on a

job?

jury befor e?

or family members

in law

crime?

or family ever been the

crime?

21

No .

22

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

23
24

with a
A

c riminal case yourself?


No .

72

If after you heard everything if you were

convinced that the state proved Ms . Melongo guilty

beyond a

verdict?

reasonable doubt,

would you sign a guilty

Yes.

If after you heard everything you were not

so convinced ,

would you sign a not guilty verdict?

Yes.

Any reason you can think of why you can't

10
11

sit on this case?


A

No .

12
13

BRENDA GARCIA ,
a prospective juror was examined as f ollows :

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT :

16

Brenda Garcia .

17

Yes .

18

Hello ,

19

Hi.

20

You reside on the near southwest side?

21

Yes .

22

How long have you lived there?

23

16 years .

24

You own or rent?

Ms .

Garcia?

73

Rent.

Who do you live there with?

My husband and two kids .

Your two

Yes.

What do you do for a

Jan i tor .

How long have you had this

working now?

kids are school aged?

living?

job where you 'r e

10

Six years .

11

What

12

He's unemployment right now .

13

Wha t

14

He used to work at the lab ,

15

lenses.

16

Never been on a

17

No .

18

Any friends

19

enforcement?

20

No .

21

Every been the victim of a

22

No .

23

Any close friends

24

kind of work does your husband do?

kind of did he do?

been the victim of a

like lab

jury before?

or family members in law

crime?

74

crime?

or family member ever

No.

Ever been arrested or charged in connecti on

with a criminal case yoursel f?

No .

If after you heard everything you were

convinc ed that the state's evidence pr oved

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a

yo u sign a guilty verdict?

reas onable d oub t,

would

Yes .

10

If after you heard everything you were not

11

so convinced ,

would you sign a not guilty verdict?

12

Yes .

13

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

14
15

si t

on this case?
A

No .
ROBERT SEGGERMAN ,

16
17

a prospective juror was examined as follows:

18

EXAMINATION

19

BY THE COURT:

20

Robert Seggerman?

21

Yes .

22

Hello ,

23
24

Mr.

ne ar northwest side ,
A

Seggerman .
correct?

Yes .

75

You reside on th e

How l ong have you lived there ,

I n the area about

You own or rent?

Rent .

Who do you live there with?

My fiance .

What

I ' m an account manager for a

11 years .

kind of work do you do?


sof tware

company .

10
11

Pretty well established large

multi - national software company ,

correct?

12

Yes .

13

How l ong have you had that

14

About three years .

15

What did you do before that?

16

Worked for a

17

Things got bad after you left ,

18

Everyone loves that

19

20

sir ?

What

job?

red light enforcement company .

job .

could tell you my story

kind of work does

your f iance do?

21

Phys i cian .

22

No children?

23

No .

24

Never served on a

76

right?

jury?

well ,

won ' t .

No.

Any friends

enforcement?

Yes.

Who would what be?

My brother - in - law is a police o ffice r .

Where does he work?

Arkansas .

Ever talked to him about his cases?

10

Yes ,

11

Whatever he tells you about his work ,

or family or friends

in law

he told me his stories.

12

you give both sides in this case a

13

tr ial?

can

fair and impartial

14

Yes .

15

Ever been the victim of a

16

Ye s.

17

How so?

18

19

How long ago did that happen?

20

18 years ago.

21

Any close friend or family members ever

22

crime ?

was mugged.

been the victim of a

crime?

23

Yeah .

24

Who would that be?

77

Friends car was broken int o .

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

with a

c r im i n a l

case yourself?

No .

If after you heard everything you ' re

convinced that the state ' s

Ms.

you sign a guilty verdict?

evidence proved

Melongo guilty beyond a

reasonable doubt ,

would

Yes .

10

If after you ' ve heard everythi ng you were

11

no so convinced would you sign a

not guilty verdict?

12

Yes .

13

Any r ea s on you can think of why you can ' t

14

sit on this case?

15

I ' m getting married in less than two weeks.

16

Where you getting married?

17

Yes .
MOLLY SHERIDAN ,

18
19

In Chicago?

a prospective juror was examined as

20

EXAMINATION

21

BY THE COUR T :

22

Molly Sheridan?

23

Hi .

24

He l lo ,

Ms .

Sheridan?

78

follows:

Hello .

You reside in the far northwest side of the

Yes .

How long you lived there?

My current house two years ,

city?

but I ' ve lived

on the north side my whole life .

You own or rent?

Own .

10

Who do live there with?

11

My husband and daughter .

12

Your daughter is very young?

13

She is .

14

Someone caring for her today?

15

Mm - hmm .

16

Someone caring for her today and Monday and

17

Wednesday?

18

Mm - hmm .

19

What

20

Kindergarten teacher .

21

Are you presently off?

22

Yes .

23

How long have you had that

24

Nine years.

kind of work do you do?

job?

What

kind of work does your husband do?

He 's

i n

How long has he wo r ked in it?

Ten years .

Never served on a

No .

Any friends

enforcement?

10

Now ,

11

live on the

IT .

know a

jury before?

or family members

in law

bunch of Chicago cops .

how do you

know them?

Socially?

The y

same block?

12

Socially .

13

You ever talk to them about their cases?

14

No.

15

Any reason to believe that those

16

relationships would prevent you from being fair

17

impartial to both sides in this case?

18

No .

19

Ever been the victim of a

20

Yes .

21

How so?

22

Car has been broken into.

23

broken into.

24

How long ago?

80

and

crime?

My condo was

About eight ,

Any c l ose friend or family member ever been

the victim of a

nine years ago .

crime besides those instances?

Yes .

Who would that be?

A girlfriend of mine was mugged .

Were you a witness to any aspect of that?

No .

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

10

with a

criminal case yourself?

11

No .

12

If after you ' ve heard everything ,

13

evidence ,

14

instructions on the law ,

15

the state ' s

16

the arguments of the attorney and my


if you were convinced that

everyday proved Ms.

reasonable doubt ,

Melongo guilty beyond

would you sign a

guilty verdict?

17

Yes .

18

If after you ha heard everything ,

19

the

you were

not so convinced would you sign a not guilty verdict?

20

Yes .

21

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

22
23

24

sit on this case?


A

No .
MICHAEL MOURKE ,

81

a prospective juror was examined as

EXAMINATION

BY THE COURT :

foll ows :

Michael Mourke?

Yes .

Hello ,

Hello .

You reside in the north suburbs?

That ' s

10

How long you lived there?

11

15 years .

12

Do you own or rent?

13

Own .

14

Who do you live there with?

15

My wife and daughters .

16

Your two daughters are school aged?

17

Both in college .

18

What

19

My wife and I

Mr .

Mourke?

correct .

kind of work do you do?


are partners in a

small

20

design company that specializes in entertainment

21

lighting design .

22

How long have you had that company?

23

25 years .

24

Never served on a

82

jury before?

No .

Any friends

enforcement?

Yes .

Who would that be?

A neighbor is a Cook County sheriff .

8
9

or family members

in law

And

my uncle was an ATF agent .


Q

And your neighbor is a Cook County sheriff,

does he or she work down here ,


really don ' t

if you know?

know .

10

11

Never talked to them that much with what

12

they do?

13

No .

14

Ever been the victim of a crime?

15

Yes .

16

How so?

17

About

18

hit and run .

19

burglary .

20
21

30 years ago my car was totaled in a

And then about a

year after vehicular

They broke in and stole something .


Any close friend or family member ever been

the victim of a

crime besides those?

22

Yes .

23

Who would that be?

24

That ' s my wife and in 1990 or thereabouts

83

she was assa ulte d by a

the civil ca se -- the criminal case and civil case .

And we pursued

Where did the case get prosecuted?

Here in

this building or somewhere else?

Wa s

cab driver .

just don ' t

recall .

It was too long ago.

it handled by the Cook County State's

Attorney 's o ff ice?

Do you remember the names of the prosecutor

10

b e lieve so.

or prosecutors who handled the case?

11

No idea.

12

Any reason to think that that experience

13

would prevent you from being fair and impartial to

14

both sides in this case?


don ' t

think so .

15

16

Can you promise me that it would?

17

Yes ,

18

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

19

it will not influe nce my decision .

with a criminal case yourself?

20

Ye s.

21

When was that?

22

19 -- I'm sorry .

23

24

Probabl y about 2005.

was driving on an expired license .


Q

Anything else?

84

No ,

After y o u have heard everything if you were

conv inced that the state ' s

Ms.

you sign a guilty verdi c t?

evidence pr ov ed

Mel o ngo guilty beyond a

reas o nable do ub t ,

Yes .

If after you heard everything ,

s o c o nvinced ,

would you sign a

would

yo u we r e

not

not gui lt y v er dict?

Yes .

10
11
MARIAN BIALAS ,

12
13

a p r o spective

juror was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE CO URT :

16

Marian Bialas?

17

Yes .

18

Hell o ,

19

Hell o .

20

THE COURT :

21

Mr.

Mr.

Bia l as?

Let me g o back f o r

a mi n ut e

to

Mourke .

22

PROSPECTIV E JUROR :

23

THE COURT :

24

f ollows :

c an ' t

Yes .

Any reason you can th i nk o f

sit on this case?

wh y you

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :
BY THE COURT:

No.

Mr.

Bialas ,

you reside in the southwest

suburbs?
A

How long have you lived there,

About ten years.

Do you own or rent?

Own.

10

Who do you live there with?

11

My wife .

12

What kind of work do you do?

13

Business owner.

14

What ' s

15

Transportation.

16

What

17

that

sir?

the nature of the business?

kind of work -- how long have you had

job?

18

About 20 years.

19

What

20

Dispatch in the office .

21

You have three adult children?

22

Yes.

23

What are they doing?

24

Doctor ,

kind of work does your wife d o?

accounting ,

86

and dispatch.

You served on a

Four or five years ago.

Where?

In the Daley Center or federal

State.

Civil case or criminal case?

10

11

Did you reach a verdict?

12

No.

13

Were you the foreperson?

14

15

Were you the boss of the

16

17

Okay.

18

enforcement?

19

No.

20

Ever been the victim of a

21

No.

22

Any close friend or family ever been the

23

24

think in downtown Chicago.


court?

think state.
What

kind of case was

it?

can't remember.

think civil.

(No response).

victim of a
A

jury before?

jury?

can't remember.
Any friend or family members in law

crime?

No.

87

crime?

1
2

Ever been arrested or charged in

co nnections with a criminal case yourself?

No .

If after you' ve heard everything if you

were convinc ed that the state ' s

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a

you sign a guilty verdict?

evidence pr oved

reasonable doubt ,

would

Yes.

If after you heard everything you were not

10

so convinced ,

would you sign a not guilty verdict?

11

Yes .

12

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

13

sit on this case?

14

No.
TIFFANI BYRD ,

15

16

a p ro spective

juror was examined as follows :

17

EXAMINATION

18

BY THE COURT :

19

Tiffani Byrd .

20

Yes.

21

Hello,

22

Hello .

23

You reside in the near west side of the

24

Mr.

Byrd .

city?

88

Cor re ct .

After previously living in the south

suburbs?

With my grandparents.

Now ,

own or rent?

Rent.

Who do you live there with?

My roommate.

10

What do you do for a

11

A buyer.

12

What

13

Online buyer .

14

For a

15

Correct .

16

Probably there ' s

17

the place where you live now d o you

living?

kind of buyer?

large retail

facility?

lot more online t h an

they used to?

18

Very mu ch so .

19

How long have you had that

20

Almost three years .

21

What did you do be f ore that?

22

23

side agency .

24

job?

was an online buyer for a private s o uth

No children?

89

Correct.

Nev e r

No .

Any friends

enforcement?

No .

Ever been the victim of a

Yes .

How so?

10

Armed robbery .

11

When was that?

12

About 14 ,

13

Anybody arrested in connection with that?

14

Yes .

15

And did that get prosecuted or resolved

16

served on a

jury?

or family members in law

crime?

15 years ag o .

down here in this building or somewhere else?

17

Somewhere else .

18

In Cook County?

19

No ,

20

Any reason to think that that would prevent

in Virginia.

21

you from being fair and impartial to both sides in

22

this case?

23

No .

24

Any close friend or family member ever been

90

the

victim

11 ~ 1[1~~?

Yes .

Who would that be?

My friend who was mugged with me.

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

with a

criminal case yourself?

No .

If after you heard everything you were

convinced that

10

Ms .

11

you sign a

the state ' s

Melongo guilty beyond a

evidence proved
reasonable doubt ,

would

guilty verdict?

12

Yes .

13

If a f ter you heard everything you were

14

so convinced ,

15

Yes .

16

Any reason you can think why you c an ' t

17

on this

18

would you sign a

20

not guilty verdict?

cas e ?
No .

19

ROBERT STEWART ,
a

pr o spective

juror was examined as

21

EXAMINATION

22

BY THE COURT :

23

Robert

24

Yes .

Stewart .

not

follows:

sit

Hello,

Hello.

You reside in the far northwest subu r b s ?

Yes .

How long you lived there ,

All totaled,

Do you own or rent?

Own .

Who do you live there?

10

My wif e and my middle chi l d .

11

What

12

13

Mr .

Stewart?

34

sir ?

years .

kind of work do you do?

work for the United States Parcel

S ervice.

14

And how long have you worked for t h e m?

15

16

And how about your wife?

17

She works for Macy ' s .

18

You have three adult children?

19

Yes.

20

Who do they d o ?

21

worked for there for 33 years .

have a

son and his wife wh o work as

22

teachers in the Chicago district .

23

wo rks

24

is at home .

for an i nvestment company ,

have my d a ugh t e r

the o n e th a t

s t il l

And th en I

1
2 I

in Detro it right now and is working for Ameri corps .

Americorps?

Yeah .

What ' s

It ' s

7 I

have a daughter who lives

that?

a government group that works with

underpr ivileged inside --

They ' re teachers?

Well ,

10
11
12 I
13

strange stuff.
Q

it ' s
I

not - -

she ' s

does all

kinds of

went to help .

Well ,

go o d thing she ' s

Yeah ,

sh e did work in a

not living around

here then .
A

homeless shelter

And th en she moved there .

I ' ve

14

here a

15 I

gone there over the weekend and helped her board up

16 I

houses and things that to keep people from just

17 I

living in a vacan t

18
19 I

year ago .

h ou se .

Goo d for her.

You served on a

in this building ab out five year s

jury trial

ago?

20

Yes .

21

What was the n ature o f

the c harge?

22

It was somebod y with a

felony who was

23 I
24

acc used of having possessio n of a


Q

don ' t

firearm.

what the verdict was ,

93

but did you

reach a

Yes.

Were you the forepers on of that

No.

Any close friend o r

enforcem ent?

No .

Ever been the victim of a

Yes ,

10

ou r

verdict?

jury?

family members in law

crime?

my wife's purse was stolen and both

identities were taken.

11

How long ago did that take place.

12

That's been almost about 19 years ago.

13

Anybody a rrested in connection with tha t?

14

No .

15

Any reason to think that would prevent you

16

from being fair and impartial to bot h si des in this

17

cas e ?

18

No.

19

Any clos e

20

fri en d or famil y mem ber e ver been

the vict im of crime besides that?

21

No.

22

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

23
24

with a

criminal case you rself?

No.

94

If after you heard everythi ng you were

convinced that the state proved Ms.

beyond a

verdi ct?

reasonable doubt,

Melongo guilty

would you sign a guilty

Yes .

If after you heard everything you were not

so convinced ,

would y ou sign a not guilty verdict?

Ye s.

Any reason you can think of why you can't

10
11

sit on this case?


A

No .

12
13

NITIRUT CHUMSANGSRI,
a prospective juror was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT:

16

Nitirut Chumsangsri.

17

Hello .

18

Did I

19

That's fine .

20

Good afternoon.

21

follows:

pronounce those corre ctly ,

sir?

You reside on the n ear

south side of the city?

22

Yes,

sir.

23

How long you lived there?

24

Ten years.

95

Do you own or rent?

Own .

Who do you live there with?

The wife and two kids .

Your two kids are very young?

Very young .

What

Real estate.

And how long have you had tha t

10

Nine years .

11

What

12

Housewife .

13

Never served on a

14

No ,

15

Any friends

16

enforcement?

17

No .

18

Ever become the victim of a

19

No .

20

Any close friend o r

21

kind of work do you do?

position?

kind of work does your wife do?

jury before?

never.

been the victim of a

or family members in l aw

crime?

family members eve r

crime?

22

No .

23

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

24

with a criminal case yourself?

96

No.

If after you heard everything you were

convinced that the state proved Ms.

beyond a

v erdict?

reasonable doubt ,

Melongo guilt y

would you sign a

guilty

Yes .

If after you heard everything you were not

so

convinced ,

would you sign a

not guilty v erdic t?

Yes .

10

Any reason you can think of th at

11

sit on this case?

12

No .

13
14

you can ' t

VICTOR LUENGO - PEREA ,


a

prospectiv e

juror was examined as

15

EXAMINATION

16

BY THE COURT :

foll ows :

17

Vic tor Luengo - Perea?

18

Yes .

19

Did I

20

Perfect .

21

Good afternoon ,

22

Good a f ternoon .

23

You reside in the western suburbs?

24

Yes.

pronounce that

correctly?

sir.

97

How long you lived there?

Ten months .

Own o r

Own.

Who do you live there with ?

With my wife.

What kind of wo rk do y o u do?

A truck driver.

How long you that

10

Ten years.

11

What kind of wife does your wo rk d o -- wh a t

rent?

job?

12

kind of work -- as you can see I ' m nerv ou s

13

beg your pardon.

t oo .

What kind of work does your wife do?

14
15

She 's a teacher.

16

How long she had that

17

Five years.

18

What level?

19

She's a teacher in the department a t

20

job?

Brookfield zoo .

21

Oh ,

okay .

No children?

22

No .

23

Never served on a

24

No.

98

jury?

Any close friends

or family members in law

enforcement?

No .

Ever been the victim of a crime?

Yes.

How?

Armed robbery.

When did that take place?

More than 15 years ago.

10

Any close friends or family members ever

11

been the victim of a crime?

12

My brother same thing .

13

Ever been ar r ested or charged in connection

14

with a crimi nal case yourself?

15

Never.

16

Now is English your first

17

No .

18

Do you understand everything that I

19

language?

have

said today?

20

Yes .

21

Are you confident that you would be able t o

22
23
24

understand everything that gets said in court?


A
terms ,

Maybe some words .


nothing ,

don ' t

know ,

99

When you use different


but almost everything.

But so far so good?

Yeah,

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

wi t h a

if I

so far

so good.

I'm sorry.

criminal case?

can ' t

asked you this?

Yes,

If after you heard everythi n g,

but no.
you were

convinc ed that the state's evidence proved

Ms.

10

remember

Melongo guilty beyond a

reasonable doubt ,

would

you sign a guilty verdict?

11

Yes.

12

If after you heard everything you were not

13

so conv inced,

would you sign a

not gu i lt y verdict?

14

Yes.

15

Any reaso n you can think of why you can't

16

17

sit o n this case?


A

No.

18

19

ANNA CARMICHAEL ,
a pr o spective

juror was exami n ed as

20

EXAMLNATION

21

BY THE COURT:

22

Anna Carmichae l ?

23

Yes.

24

Hello,

Ms.

Carm ichael.

1 00

f o l low s:

You resi de in the

northwest suburbs .

Yes.

How long you lived there?

13 years.

Do you own or rent?

Own.

Who do you live there with?

My husband and daughter.

Your daughter is school aged?

10

Yes.

11

What kind of work do you do?

12

I ' m a computer programmer.

13

For a company that has something to do with

14

a telephone equipment manufacturing compan y?

15

Digital mapping.

16

How long you had that job?

17

Almost nine years .

18

What kind of work does your husband do?

19

He's a marketing manager .

20

You served on a

21

jury way back in 1989 at

the Daley center?

22

Yes.

23

What was the nature of the case?

24

It was a civil trial,

101

a truck driver had

been injured suing the maker of the truck and then

they in turn suing where it happened.

3
4

again ,

don ' t

want to know what the verdict is

but did you reach a

verd i ct?

i t was settled.

No,

Were you the foreperson?

No.

Any friends

e nforcement?

or family members i n law

10

No.

11

Ever been the victim of a

12

No .

13

Any close friend or family ever been the

14

vic tim of a

crime?

crime?

15

No .

16

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

17

with a

cr iminal case yourself?

18

No .

19

If after you ' ve heard everythin g ,

20

convinced that the state's evidence pr oves

21

Ms .

22

yo u sign a guilty verdict?

Melongo guilty beyond a

reasonable doubt ,

23

Yes .

24

If after you heard everything ,

102

you were

would

you were not

so convinced ,

would you sign a

THE COURT:

not guilty verdict ?

Yes .
Adrienne,

how you holding up?

Yo u

need a break?

THE COURT REPORTER:

THE COURT :

THE VENIRE :

THE COURT :

I ' m fine.

Everybody else doing okay.


Yes .
All right.

10
11
PATIENCE NUNOO,

12
13

a prospective juror was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT:

follows:

16

Patience Nunoo.

17

Yes,

18

Is it Nunoo

19

Nunoo.

20

Nunoo .

21

Good afternoon.

22

You reside in the northwest suburbs as

Yes .

23
24

sir.

( phonetic ) or Nuno o ?

beg your pardon.

well?

103

Good aftern o on.

How long have you lived there ?

35 years?

35 years .

We own .

Who do you live there with?

My husband.

What kind of work do you do?

I ' m an accounts clerk.

And you're an accounts clerk for what kind

10

Do you own or rent?

of company?

11

(Unintelligible)

12

Some kind of pumps?

13

Diesel pumps .

14

Oh ,

15

long yo u that

diesel pumps .

beg your pardon.

How

job?

16

13 years.

17

What

kind of work does your husband do?

18

He ' s

a tech n ician.

19

Now ,

you have three adult children?

20

Yes .

21

What are they do ing?

22

have one he ' s a

counselor for a marketing

23

county in Bloomingt on .

And one is an accountant.

24

One is support manager in New York.

1 04

You said the one is a

counselor in McClain

County,

Yes.

A lawyer?

No,

Mm - hmm.

School counseling?

Psychiatric counseling.

10

Never served on a

11

No.

12

Any friends

13

enforcement?

14

No.

15

Have you ever been the victim of a

16

Yes,

17

Any close friend or family member ever been

18

Illinois?

he's a

counselor.

beg your pardon.

Psychiatric counseling?

jury before?

or family members

in law

crime?

my car was broken into.

the victim of a crime besides that?

19

No.

20

Ever been arrested or charged in connectio n

21

with a criminal case yourself?

22

No.

23

If after you heard everything if you were

24

convinced that the state proved Ms.

105

Melongo guilty

beyond a

verdict?

reasonable doubt ,

would you sign a guilty

Yes .

If after you heard everything ,

you were not

so convinced would you sign a not guilty verdict?

Yes .

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

8
9

sit on this case?


A

No .

10
11

MIN PARK,
a prospective juror was examined as

12

EXAMINATION

13

BY THE COURT:

14

Min Park?

15

Yes.

16

He l lo ,

17

Mr.

northw est suburbs ,

Park.

f ollows :

You reside in the

correct?

18

Yes.

19

How long have you lived there ,

20

14 years .

21

You own or rents?

22

23

Who do you live th e re with?

24

My wife and two kids .

own.

106

sir?

Are your two kids o f

Yes .

What

I wo rk at manufacturing compa ny .

And i t ' s an engraving manufacturin g

school aged?

kind of work do you do?

company?

No ,

they make diamond drills .

Oh ,

diamond drills?

Yes .

10

Industrial drills .

11

About three years .

12

What did you do before that?

13

Another manufacturing company.

14

What

15

She ' s

16

You have two school aged children ?

17

Yes .

18

Never served on a

19

No .

20

Any friends

21

enforcement?

22

No .

23

Ever been the victim of a

24

No .

How long you that

kind of work does your wife do?


a nurse ,

school nurse .

jury bef o re?

or family members in law

107

crime?

j ob ?

Any close friends

been the victim of a

No.

Eve r

with a

or family member ever

crime?

been arrested or charged in conne ction

crim ina l

case yoursel f?

No .

If after you heard everything y ou are

conv inced the state ' s

guilty beyond a

10

guilty verdic t?

evidence proved Ms .

reasonable doubt ,

Melongo

would you sign a

11

Yes .

12

If after you heard everything you were not

13

so co nvinced ,

would you sign a

not guilty verdict?

14

Yes .

15

Any reas o n you can think of why you can ' t

16
17

s i t on this case?
A

No .
JOHN O ' SULLIVAN ,

18
19

a prospective juror was examined as

20

EXAMINATION

21

BY THE COURT :

22

J ohn O'Sullivan?

23

Yes .

24

Hello ,

Mr .

O 'Sullivan.

108

foll ows :

You resided in the

north suburbs?

How long you lived there?

Since 1999 .

Do you know or rent?

And you ' re currently a student?

Yes .

live with my mom .

don ' t

want to know where ,

but level are

10

12

At a university?

14

Do you have a particular major that you ' ve

15
16

17

declared or anything like that?


A

Yeah ,

I ' m majoring in computer science and

information systems .

18

No kids?

19

No .

20

Not married?

21

No .

22

Never searched on a

23

Nope .

24

Anything friend or family members in law

109

jury?

enforcemen t?

Yes .

Who would that be?

A close friend's

father is a lawyer in the

circ uit court and an other family member ,

the police academy for the Chicago police.

Now ,

the friend ' s

does the friend's

know?

father who ' s

lawyer

father practice c ri minal law if you

think it ' s more civil law .

10

11

The friend who has got a

12

fri end is at

relative at the

police academy?

13

Yeah .

14

Is that the Chicago police academ y?

15

Yes .

16

Now who would that person be exa ctly to

18

My mom 's best friend .

19

Your mom 's best friend .

17

20

you?

with that person about his o r

You ever talked

her work?

21

Yeah ,

22

Any reason you think that th ose discussions

see him a

lot .

23

or that relationship would prevent you fr om being

24

fair and impartial to both side in this case?

110

No.

Ever been the victim of a crime?

No .

Any close friends

been the victim of a crime?

My close friend was shot,

b ut I wasn ' t

there a long time ago.

8
9

or family member ever

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

with a cr iminal case yourself?

10

No .

11

If after you heard everything you were

12

convinced that the state's evidence pr oved

13

Ms.

14

you sign a guilty verdict?

Melongo guilty beyond a

15

Yes .

16

If afte r

17

so co nvinced,

reasonable doubt ,

would

you heard ev erything you were not

would you s ign a not guilty verdict?

18

Yes .

19

And reas on you can think of why you can ' t

20

sit on th is case?

21
22

have school a meeting throughout the week

about my research and classes f o r

23
24

next semester.

The school that you go t o is in the Chicago

area?

111

Yes .
CHR IS ROBINSON ,

2
3

a prospec t ive

ju ror was exam i ned as

EXAMINATION

BY THE COURT :

follows:

Chris Robinson .

Yes .

Hello ,

Hello .

10

You reside in the northern su b u rbs ?

11

Yes .

12

How long you lived there ,

13

About seven years .

14

Do you own o r

15

16

Who do you live there?

17

All by myself .

18

No kids?

19

No .

20

Ever serve on a

21

No .

22

What

23

I ' m an account manager at a

24

Mr .

Robins o n?

sir?

rent?

rent .

jury before?

kind of wo rk do you d o ?

com pany .

11 2

finan c e

And how long have you had that

About seven years.

Never served on a

No.

Any close friends

e nf o rcement?

No.

Ever been the victim of a

No.

10

Any close friends

11

been the victim of a

j ob ?

jury before ?

or family me mb e rs

in law

crime ?

or family member ever

crime?

12

No.

13

Ever been arrested or charged in connecti on

14

with a

criminal case yourself?

15

Yes.

16

When was that?

17

2010.

18

What was the nature of the charge?

19

20

Is that s t i l l pending?

21

No.

22

Did i t get prosecuted in Co ok Cou nt y?

23

Yes.

24

Is i t

DUI.

resolved ?

113

Yes .

Can you give both sides a

fair and

impartial trial in this case?

Yes .

Anything about that prevent you from being

fair and impartial to both sides?

No.

Any other arrests?

No .

10

If after you ' ve heard everythin g ,

you were

11

convinced that the state ' s

evidence pr oved

12

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a reasonable doubt ,

13

you sign a guilty verdict?

would

14

Yes .

15

If after you ' ve heard everythin g you were

16

not so convinced ,

17

verdict?

would you sign a not guilty

18

Yes .

19

Any reason you think why you can ' t

20
21
22
23
24

this case?
A

No .
JOSE MONTIJO ,

a prospective juror was examined as follows :


EXAMINATION

114

sit on

BY THE COURT:

Jos e Montijo?

Yes .

Hello,

Hi.

You reside on the northwest side of the

Yes .

How long you lived there ,

10

About

11

Do you own or rent?

12

Rent .

13

Who do you live there with?

14

Rent .

15

Who do you live there with?

16

By myself.

17

What

18

Assembly .

19

For an electric company?

20

Yes .

21

I mean ,

22

Mr .

Montijo .

city ?

sir?

13 years.

kind of work do you do?

company in the electri c

the electric company?

23

Yes ,

24

How long you had that

yes .

115

job?

fi eld not

15 and a half years .

You have one adult child?

Yes .

What 's she or he doing?

He works security in Arizona.

He li ve s

in

Pho enix.

Never served on a

No .

Any friends

jur y ?

or family members

i n l aw

10

e nforcement?

11

Yes .

12

Who would that be?

13

My cousin and her husband .

14

Where do they wo rk?

15

31st and Halsted .

16

You ever talk with them ab o ut t h e ir ca se s?

17

No.

18

Ever been the victim o f

19

Yes .

20

How so?

21

They stole parts off my truck.

22

In one instance or several

23

Two instances.

24

Two instances .

c rim e?

instance s?

Any close friends

116

or f am ily

member ever bee the victim of a

crime?

Yes .

Who would that be?

They robbed my mother.

Were you a witness to that?

No .

How long ago was that?

Maybe six ,

Ever been arrested or charged in connecti on

10

seven years ago .

with a criminal case yourself?

11

No .

12

In after you heard everything you were

13

convinced th a t

the state ' s

14

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a

15

you sign a guilty verdict?

evidence proved
reasonable doubt ,

16

Yes .

17

If after you ' ve heard everything ,

18

not so convinced ,

would you sign a

would

you were

not guilty?

19

Yes .

20

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

21
22

sit on this case?


A

No .

23

CHARLES STEMPIEN ,

24

a prospective juror was examined as

117

follows:

EXAMINATION

BY THE COURT :

Charles Stempien?

Stempien .

Stempien .

beg your pardon ,

sir.

Good

afternoon?

Hi .

You reside in the northwest suburbs?

Yes .

10

How long have you lived there?

11

40 years .

12

Do you own or rent?

13

Own .

14

Who do you live there with?

15

My wife and two kids.

16

Your two kids are very young just barely

17

18
19

school aged if that?


A

Hopefully ,

in the toilet ,

have

just one started pooping

yes .

20

What

21

Teacher .

22

At what level?

23

Middle school .

24

How long you ' ve been d o ing that ?

kind of work do you do?

118

12 years .

What

She's HR assistant

Never served on a

No.

Any

e nf o rcement?

No.

Ever been the victim of a

10

No.

11

Any close

12

kind of work does

friends

been the victim of a

your wife d o?

in a

jury befo r e ?

or family memb e rs

friends

Yes.

14

Who would that be?

15

My brother was mugged at

17

several

18

19

owned a

bus i ness

in t he

crime?

ev e r

gunp o i n t.

city wa s

he l d

And my
up

times.
Were you a

witness

to either of t h ose

i ncidents?

20

No.

21

Ever been arrest

22

law

crime?

father

in

or family members

13

16

scho ol d i s t ri ct.

wi t h

criminal case

or charged in c on nec t ion

yourself?

23

No.

24

If after you ' ve heard ever y thing

119

y ou were

convinced that the state ' s

evidence proved

Ms . Melongo guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,

you sign a guilty verdict?

would

Yes.

If after you ' ve heard everything you were

not so convinced,

verdict ?

would you sign a not guilty

Yes.

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

10
11

sit on this case?


A

No.

12
13

STEPHEN FISCHER,
a prospective juror was examined as

14

EXAMINATION

15

BY THE COURT:

follows:

16

Stephen Fischer.

17

Yes .

18

Hello,

19

Hello.

20

You reside on the -- probably more north

21

Mr.

Fischer.

side than northwest side ,

correct?

22

Correct .

23

How long you lived there,

24

About two years.

1 20

sir?

Do you own or rent?

Rent .

Who do you live there with?

My f iance .

And what

I work in the arts ,

How long have you worked -- and you're

self - employed ,

writer ,

filmmaker.

correct?

10

How long you ' ve done that kind of work?

11

20 yea r s .

12

What kind of work does your -- did you say

13

am ,

kind of work do you do?

yeah .

it was your partner?

14

Fiance .

15

Fiance .

16

beg your pardon .

What

kind of

work does your f iance do?

17

She ' s a lawyer .

18

And does she practice in the Chicago area?

19

She does.

20

What ' s the nature of her practice?

21

Imm i gration law .

22

Never served on a

23

24

Any friends

jury?

have not.
or family members in law

121

enforcement?

come from a

family of law enforcement,

but they're all retired.

Any of them from the Chicago area?

No.

Whe re were they from?

Baltimore.

Ever been the victim of a

No.

10

Any close friend or family member e ver been

11

the victim of a

crime?

crime?

12

Yes ,

13

An d when was that?

14

2002 .

15

Were you a witness to any aspect of that?

16

17

Ever been arrested or charged in connection

18

with a

my fiance was attacked.

was not.

criminal case yourself?

19

No.

20

If after you ' ve heard everything,

21

convinced that the state's evidence proved

22

Ms .

23

you sign a guilty verdict?

24

Melongo guilty beyond a

Yes.

122

you ' re

reasonable doubt ,

would

If after you ' ve heard everything you were

not so convinced ,

verdict?

would you sign a not guilty

Yes .

Any reason you can think of why you can ' t

sit on this case?

THE COURT :

9
10

No .
At this time ladies and gentlemen ,

the attorneys now will have the opportunity ask you


questions as to matters I

have not inquired upon.

You are to draw no inferences nor are

11
12

you make any conclusions simply because any attorney

13

did not ask questions or did or did not ask you any

14

questions .

15

16
17

18
19

20
21

State ,
MS .

ZARKOS :

We do have any questions of these

Jurors .
THE COURT :
Bonjean ,
MS .

Thank you ,

Ms.

Zarkos.

Ms.

do you wish to ask que s tions?


BONJEAN :

have a couple questions your

Honor .

22

THE COURT :

23

MS .

24

do you wish to ask questions?

BONJEAN :

Please .
May I

approach here or would you

like me to sit at counsel's table?

123

THE COU RT:

MS .

THE COU RT :

MS . BON JEAN :

T he pod i um or t he table is fine.

BONJ EAN :

Great .
Whatever you prefer .
Thank you ,

of all

for

Mr .

Reddinger;

quest ion first

corre ct?

business was a

was your busi n ess or someone else ' s

MS .
how you r

13
14

is that

v i ctim of a

crime .

Mine ,

don ' t

know if it

business.

and wh en I

wor k out

of my hom e.

11

12

have a

think you mentioned that your

PR OSPECTIVE JUROR :

10

Hi .

your Honor .

Can you tell me little more about

BONJEAN :

business was victim of a

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :
phys ical ,

15

MS .

Theft ,

cr i me?

empl oyee theft,

some data .
An d was this when you --

BONJEAN :

16

you ' re now the owner or operator of an e n ergy

17

company?

18

PR OSPECTIVE JUROR :

19

THE COURT :

20

22
23
24

know

Mm - hmm .

Excuse my ign o ra nce ,

say energy com p any ,

21

some

but when you

what do you mean by that exactly.

PROSPEC TI VE JUROR :

We buy natural gas and sell

it .
MS.

BONJEAN :

were involved in a

Under s tood .
fitne s s

And then you al s o

company if I

124

remember.

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

MS .

BONJ EAN :

the fitness

business .

see .

here in Chicago.

And are you talking about

company or energy company that was the

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

Yeah ,

Fitness company was more

theft of the physical property .

was a data issue .


MS .

8
9

BONJEAN :

The energy company

So someone had been in your

company had stole data from


PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

10

It was more forwarding

11

e - mails and information to personal accounts stolen,

12

but i t was where it shouldn ' t

13

MS.

14

they shouldn ' t

15

BONJEAN :

have been.

So the y were taking data that

have had access?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

And they're taking it home

16

as an employee and they left the company and took i t

17

to their new employer type thing .

18

MS.

BONJEAN:

Ah ,

so like a

competition type

19

violating some time of contract ,

20

involving proprietary inf orm ation;

21

say?

22

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

maybe a

is that

It was never a

23

prosecuted .

24

respect to the information .

It was more for a

125

contract
fair

to

criminal

cease and desist with

1
2

MS.
Mr.

Okay .

BONJEAN :

Thank you so much.

Davis?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

MS .
don ' t

Hi ,

BONJEAN:
know that I

Yes .
I

think you mentioned that --

didn't catch it ,

mentioned that were married and your wife was

employed?

PROSPECT I VE JUROR :

THE COURT :

10

if I

didn ' t

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

12

MS .

14
15

Got it .

wasn ' t sure

So did she work at one time?

11

13

think you

Unemployed.

Unemployed .

hear it .

BONJEAN :

but I

Yes.

And what type of work was she

involved in .
PROSPEC TIVE JUROR :

Medical receptionist at

Loyola University Hospital.

16

MS.

17

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

18

MS .

19

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

20

MS.

BONJEAN :

BONJEAN :

BONJEAN :

Is it ,

Hi ,

Mr.

Stewart?

Yes.
how are you?
Hi.

believe that you mentioned that

21

you were the victim of identity theft;

22

to say and your wife .

23

PROSPEC TIVE JUROR:

24

MS .

BONJEAN :

Mm - hmm ,

Both of you .

12 6

is that fair

both of us .
I

don't want to pry

into the details of that ,

did you ever determine who the individuals were who

were responsible for it .

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

but did the individuals --

Actually ,

groundwork or footwork on our own .

person in Atlanta ,

couldn ' t

the act .

it was some
We located the

but Atlanta police said they

do anything unless they could catch them in

And at that time we had lived in the

And they

the police

10

Mount Prospect area .

11

department there basically did nothing.

12

MS .

BONJEAN :

see .

And in terms of the

13

how they perpetrated the crime ,

14

accounts and things of that nature?

15

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

did they access bank

What they did was they

16

had -- by taking my wife ' s purse ,

17

Security numbers.

18
19
20

It had bank credit card numbers.

And so we had purchases that were just


out of this world .
MS.

BONJEAN:

understand .

21

unfortunately was not resolved.

22

any satisfaction .

23
24

it had our Social

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

No ,

Okay.

It sounds like in

we just had to wait it

out and wait for our credit to clear.

127

And that

MS .

Sorry to hear that that

Okay .

BONJEAN :

resolved itself in the

had the question for the whole group.

4
S

future .

Let's see.

just

Does anybody here that doesn't use


e - mail at all .

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

MS.

didn ' t

hear you.

Is there anybody here that does

BONJEAN :

not use e - mail either personally or in the course of

their employment?

10

nowadays ,

but

11

Suppose that ' s

silly question

have to ask i t .

And does everybody here understand

12

using e - mail how they forward or delete e -ma ils or

13

reply to e - mails?

14

under standing of how t o operate e - mails.

15

Anybody not

Every one has a

Okay .

general basic

know how to do that or

had one question o f

16

don ' t do it .

17

believe -- let ' s

18

childre n that are in the Americorps program?

see .

Mr .

19

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

20

MS .

21

BONJEAN :

it ' s

one of your

Yes.

And is that like a domestic peace

corps t y pe of situation?

22

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

23

THE COURT :

24

Stewart ,

Mr.

Okay.

Yes.
That ' s what

Barcus.

128

thought.

And

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

TH E COU RT:

Barcus .

Okay .

Can you tell me a little bit

what police motor pool is .


PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

It ' s

repair police cars.

Mainly ,

deal with the police quite a bit .

I ' m down working on those all the time.

MS .

BONJEAN :

Okay .

think you mention ed

though you have friend who are law enforcement

officer s?

10

PROSPEC TI VE JUROR :

Yes ,

do .

I mentioned

11

that for about the friends with the police

12

(u nintelligible) .

13

MS.

BONJ EAN :

Sure .

under s tand .

figured maybe you did ,

15

employment wi t h the -- your interaction with police

16

department .

18

Okay.

14

17

but

wanted to clarify your

If you could give my one second,


Judge ,

I ' m going to consult with my cl ient.

19

THE COURT:

20

MS.

BONJEAN :

Take your time .


There ' s

one more question f or the

21

jury that pe r ta i ns to t h e e - mail question that I

22

already asked you all .

23

that doesn ' t

24

accessing your e - mail?

had

But is there anybody here

understand the concept of remote


A remote access software for

129

instance where you -- is everyone familiar with that

conce pt?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

MS.
I

BONJEAN:

I ' m not.
Thank you for disclosing

Okay .

just wanted to see if we can get sort of a

that.

gag e on the group exactly how technicall y sav vy

everyone is.

9
10

And if anybody has ever not had any


Thank you

experience with remote access software .


for your time .

11

At this time,

THE COURT :

ladies and gentlemen,

12

you ' ll be in recess but I,

13

Melongo and Adrienne will be working back in the Jury

14

room.

15

would like to tell you it wi ll us


I

16

fiv e minutes.

17

minut es.

18

out jury issues .

19

the attorney s and Ms .

would like to tell take us 5 to 15

I'm not sure how long it will take to ha sh

do want you to know tha t

through the

20

process throughout t ime you ' re waiting ,

21

ende avoring to move the process forward .

22

on your way with your da y and thr ough this pr ocess .

23

You ' re free to get up,

24

would be
And get you

move aroun d .

always forget whether the women's room is down ther e

130

But one bathroom is

or the men's room is down there.

down there and one bathroom is down there.

free to get up move around however you wish .

28 of you who are here I

when we come back in session in the seats that you're

in now.

Thank you.

want you to sit

Those

in back and

Court's in recess.
(W HEREUPON,

You're

the following

proceedings were had outside

the presence and hearing of the


venire:)

10
11

Let the record reflect that the

THE COURT :

12

attor neys,

Ms.

Melongo and myself and our court

13

reporte r

14

in the courtroom,

are back in the

15

jury room.

As

the parties will hash it out.

still consider this an open public


Anybody wish for especially

16

part of the courtroom.

17

for persons affiliated with -- supp o rters,

18

the public in general to be back here.

19

welcome,

20

matt er.

21

but I

members of

They're

don't allow it frankly as a practical

But otherwise if we were hashing out

22

the

jury selection in the courtroom,

23

the

jury to remain out in the hall.

24

indicated

would require

They would have to stand around.

131

Does

the state have any objection to that?

MS .

THE COURT :

MS . BONJEAN :

THE COURT :

THE DEFENDANT :

THE COURT :

THE DEFENDANT :

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

No .
Ms . Bonjean?
No ,

your Honor .

Ms . Melongo .
(Shaking head) .

You have to answer out l oud .


No ,

Judge .

Before we go further,

the sheriff

10

moments ago before we began the hearing he advised me

11

that a

12

approached her .

jury number ,

13

juror number 15 ,

Michael Mourke

And indicated to her that his e - mail

14

had been hacked on some prior occasion that was kind

15

of what he indicated to me .

16

And in light o f

the charges against

17

Ms . Melongo ,

18

asked of the venire ,

19

mind to offer any further questions of Mr . Mourke ,

20

but I would offer an opportunity to the parties to do

21

that by br i nging Mr . Mourke in here while he ' s under

22

oath and ask such questions as might be put to him by

23

the parties if they would wish to do so .

24

and in light of some of the questi ons


I ' m not of inclined in my own

Does the state wish to examine

132

Mr . Mourke in that manner?

MS.

THE COURT :

MS.

ZARKOS :

No ,
Ms .
I

BONJEAN:

your Honor.
Bonjean .
would like to have an

opportu nity to question him .


THE COURT :

6
7

Mourke .

seat ,

Have him brought in .

Mr . Mourke,

th a nks for corning in.

10

Michael
Have a

sir .
PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

Yeah ,

THE COU RT:

Sorry to screw this up .

You're not screwing anything up.


I ' m glad you took the

11

I ' m glad you ' re back here .

12

liberty of sharing some information with ou r

13

because of possible concerns .

sheriff

You indicated to our sheriff that had

14

15

on some prior occasion your e - mail account was

16

hacked ;

is th at correct?

17

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

18

THE COURT :

19

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

20
21
22

Ye s .

How long ago did that take place?


About a

year and a

half

ago.
THE COU RT:
to ask of Mr.

State ,

are there questions you wish

Mourke .

ZARKOS:

Was this your pers on al e - mail.

23

MS .

24

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

It was the one we used f or

133

our business ,

and I

ente rtainment lighting .


And it was e - mail that we used for the
business .
MS .

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

MS .

we work out of our

And it was accessed at your home ;

ZARKOS :

is that correct?
PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

12

No ,

it was accessed from

The hacking was not on that machine .

13

outs ide .

14

was in cybe rspace .

15

MS.

16

THE COURT :

17

MS .

18

THE COURT :

19

No ,

home .

10
11

Was it at your home or business

ZARKOS :

off site from your home?

8
9

My wife

are -- run a very small design company f or

4
5

so it was our business e-mail .

ZARKOS :

ZARKOS :

It

Thank you .
Any further questions ,
No ,
Ms .

Ms .

Zarkos?

your Honor .
Bonjean ,

do you wish to ask

Mr . Mourke any questi o n?

20

MS .

BONJEAN :

A few .

Mr . Mourke .

Thank you .

21

Now,

22

jargon that people have different definitions for.

23
24

when you say it was hacked sometimes that's like

Could you maybe explain -PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

Specifically .

134

MS .

you mean by --

BONJEAN :

-- to me a little further what

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

Yes ,

somebody gained access

to the account and used it to send sexual spam to

everybody in the address book so ...


BONJEAN :

see .

MS .

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

A large number of our

business started getting offers of sexual toys from

us .
MS .

11

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

12

wasn ' t

BONJEAN :

shouldn ' t

10

MS .

14

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

15

MS .

BONJEAN :

BONJEAN :

No .

can now.

It

meant -Go ahead .

Were you able to determine who

was responsible for this?

17

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

18

MS .

19

suspect .

20

and I

funny at the time .

13

16

No ,

have laughed.

BONJEAN :

No ,

Was it a

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

no .
former employer you

Actually ,

we have

21

absolutely no idea.

22

it was anybody who knew us .

23

handled in the way that suggested it was done with

24

any knowledge of us .

And we have no reason to think

135

The information wasn't

I
e - mail .

think somebody just got ahold of our

Somebody just hacked i nto the account .

MS .

BONJEAN :

MS .

ZARKOS :

tho s e add re s s e s ,

purposes .
MS .

Right.
And once they had e - mail and all
they s imp l y us e d i t

BONJEAN :

understand .

for spamming

So to the best of

your understanding this was an anonymous type of

cri me?
PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

10
11

I ' m virtually certain it

was an anonymous crime .

12

MS .

BONJEAN :

Ok .

Thank you very much .

Is

13

there anyth i ng about that experience -- you heard a

14

little bit about the charge that have been levied

15

against my client .

16

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

17

THE COURT :

I mean ,

it ' s

--

Anything specifically about your

18

personal experience that you think would interfere

19

with your ability to listen to the evidenc e in this

20

c ase?

21
22

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :
thought I

I would hope not ,

b ut I

should mention it to be --

23

MS .

BONJEAN :

24

MS.

ZARKOS :

Sure .
-- because ,

136

you know ,

it was -- I

think we all lost a week's worth of time or s o trying

to cope with this,

so it wasn ' t
Understood.

MS .

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :
you

BONJEAN :

know ,

It was a

And ,

objec tive about everything ,

real ,

real pain.

would like to be able to be

I mean ,

just unpleasant.

but I

don't

know.

it would be -- no,

like I

it was an unpleasant experience because it had

seems to have some connection of what's going on

10
11

here .

Just thought
MS .

BONJEAN :

said

should mention it.

Yeah ,

it wasn't -- and it sounds

12

l ike it just wasn't unpleasant based on -- becau se it

13

was a pain but also it interfered with your bottom

14

line in terms losing work time and preventing you

15

actually doing what you do for a

16

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

Yes,

living .

and ,

you know,

then

17

having to go and mend some relationship.

18

lot of people these people knew us and recognized

19

instantly that it was spam.

20

And just sent back,

I mean,

you know,

21

reply and whatnot.

22

have a close relationship with of course.

23

we ha d to contact those people and explain the

24

situa tion,

you know ,

joki n g

But some of the people we don ' t

so on and so forth.

137

You know ,

So,

yeah,

I'm trying to think back.

suspect that my wife and I

between us 60 to 100 hundred hours or so trying

recover from this,


MS.

BONJEAN:

you know,
And I

you know,

and that's

just have one last

question.

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

MS.

probably spent,

BONJEAN:

Sure.

If you were

were very forthcoming.

and I

And you're being as honest

10

and forth coming as you possibly can.

11

that.

12

know you

We appreciate

Can you say that that experience would

13

not interfere at all in assessing my client or are

14

you worried that it could bleed into your analysis of

15

the facts and evidence that you hear.

16

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

am as confidant as I

17

be that I

18

that if,

19

that experience is back there.

20

probably -- now,

21
22

can objective.
you know,

THE COURT:

But I

can

can't ignore the fact

that the relationship -And I

I mean,

think I

can

I'm babbling.
Can you be fair and impartial to

both sides.

23

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

24

THE COURT:

think,

can,

yes.

You would give both sides a

138

fair

trial?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR:

THE COURT :

prove Ms .

verdict ,

Ms.

Yes .

Would you

Melongo --

require

before you sign a

would you require that

Melongo guilty beyond a

PROSPEC TIVE JUROR :

THE COURT :

MS .

11

PROSPECT IVE JUROR :

12

MS .

13

PROSPECTIVE JUROR :

14

THE COURT :

As

Mourke ' s

room that we ' re

17

reasonable doubt?

Mr.

Mourke .

Thank you.

Thank you ,

BONJEAN :

of the

Mr .

indicated to the parties


out of the courtroom -- or out
in .

18

state 's challenges

19

jurors we have examined .


I

for

Mourke.

Thank you.

We will proceed by a

20

state prove

further .

Thank you ,

THE COURT :

16

guilty

No .

10

before -- Mr.

the

state to

Yes .

Anything

BONJEAN :

15

the

-- listen to the

cause with respect

to the

28

will then give the defense an

21

opportunity to challenge for

22

persons

23

give the

24

remaining in the order in wh ich they were examined.

remaining .

cause any of those

We will then proceed by we'll

state the first

12 persons thereafter

139

The state will exercise challenges


I

will give those 12 venire

until they get the 12 .

persons to the defense who will then exercise

challenges until they give me 12.


Substitutes will be taken in the order

5
6

in they were examined .

There will be no back striking .

have accepted a

side t i l l we get 12 person .

10

juror ,

We will go back and forth.

that

So once the parties

juror is accepted by that

There will be two alternate

11

know this case .

12

but there will be .

13

14

respect to the 12 .

don ' t

discussed that

seven peremptory challenges with

Each side gets one peremptory

16

challenge per alternate seat .

17

first

18

alternate number one .

The person selected

will be alternate -- as an alternate will be

19

The person who is selected second is

20

alte rnate two .

21

an impaneled juror from the 12 ,

22

sit will be alternate number one .

23
24

Each person gets -- or each side

should say -- gets

15

know that

jurors

And if there is any reason t o replace


the

first

person to

Does everybody understand that ,


MS .

ZARKOS :

Yes ,

your Honor .

140

state?

TH E COU RT :

MS .

THE COURT :

BON JE AN :

Ms .

Bonjean .

Yes ,
Now ,

you r

before I

challenges there were some I

was Ms . Moran ,

difficulty with the language .

a sk the state for any


One

wanted to broach .

she struck me as genuinely having

I ' m of mi nd to excuse her sua sponte.

Ho n or .

Does the stat e h a ve any objection?

MS .

ZAR KOS :

10

THE COU RT :

11

MS .

12

TH E COU RT :

Ms .

BON JE AN :

Piazzi I

No ,

your Hono r .
Bonjean .

No ,

your Ho n or .

She ' s

e x cu se d f or cause .

13

Mr.

just said the northwest suburbs .

14

point in fact he comes from E lk Grove Village which

15

is a

16

as you can ge t

long way from here .

17

for a

It ' s

about as far

The

from here

juror to travel .

He indicates he ' s

18

condition .

19

20

down here and sit but I

21

anxious about it .

22

cause .

got a heart

He got down here no difficulty today ,

but

would have eve r y expectation he ' d be able t o get


don ' t

want the guy to be

So I ' m willing to excuse him for

Any objection?

23

MS .

24

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

No ,

your Hono r.

Any objection .

141

MS .

THE COURT :

BONJEAN :

No ,
He ' s

your Honor.
excused for cause .

Mr.

make travel plans when you ' ve got a

I'm not going to excuse him for cause .

Reddinger ,

guy with the travel plans.

But I ' l l leav e

You don't

jury summons.

So

i t you all to figure

out how you want to proceed with him.

O 'Sullivan ,

John

the young man with the school.


And you know schools are generally

10

pretty receptive to public service and the dispatch

11

of your public responsibilities.

12

excuse him for

13
14

looking to

cause .
State ,

of the remaining 26 ,

any whom

you seek to challenge for cause .

15

MS.

ZARKOS :

18 and 25 .

16

Christopher Robinson.

17

THE COU RT:

18

I ' m not

What ' s

19

Let ' s

the basis for

MS .

ZARKOS :

Robert Stewart and

go first

on Mr .

Stewart.

your challenging for

In Mr .

case I

might have a

21

said they did absolutely noth ing for him regarding

22

his

24

THE COURT :
that

law enforcement

believe he

20

23

bias towards

Stewart ' s

cause .

since he

Did you wish to be heard further

regard?

142

in

MS .

THE COU RT:

MS .

THE COURT :

MS.

for

ZARKOS :

ZARKOS :

No .
That will be respectfully denied.
All right .
And the other one you said was?
Mr .

Robinson ,

he has a

conviction

DUI.

7
8

ZAR KOS :

MS .
that ,

BONJEAN :

believe he was honest about

your Honor .
THE COU RT :

10

MS .

11

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

He did tell me about

it.

He did .
You know ,

the whole point of asking

12

somebody if they ' ve ever been arrested whether they

13

were convicted or not is not to see that somebody is

14

or is not a

--

15

MS.

16

THE COU RT :

ZARKOS :

He was honest .
He was honest about

it.

Being

17

convic ted is not a disability that prevents s omebody

18

from being a

19

denied .

juror .

Anyone further ones?

20

MS .

21

THE COURT :

22

That will be respectfully

ZARKOS :

No ,
Ms .

your Honor .
Bonjean ,

any challenges for

with respect to these 26 remaining pers ons?

23

MS .

BONJEAN :

24

THE COURT :

No ,

your Honor.

I ' l l give the state first

143

12

going -- ending with Ms . Molly Sheridan,

14.

pull out tho s e whom you would seek to challenge fo r

peremptorily ,

If you would keep the c a rds in order please and

MS .

Mr .

i f

any .

ZARKOS :

Piazzi ,

Now ,

correct ,

THE COU RT :

MS .

11

MS .

12

THE COURT :

your Honor .
Moran and Pia zzi ar e out .

All right .

Thank you .

We accept

You accept those 12 .

ZARKOS :

do ,

I
Ms .

to you ending with Ms.

14

or away ,
MS .

I ' ll tender thes e 12

Sheridan .

If you step aside

you c er t ain l y can .


BONJEAN :

just explain i t

17

THE COURT :

18

coming back in .
MS.

your Honor .

Bonjean ,

13

19

Mo ran and

those 12.
THE COU RT :

16

you took out Ms.

and 9 ,

ZARKOS :

10

15

juror number

Okay .

actuall y might need to

further to Ms . Melongo.

BONJEAN :

Ms . Melongo ,

and her attorney are

We ' re prepared ,

your Honor,

to

20

do -- you want us to identify our perempt ory by jury

21

number .

22

THE COURT :

23

MS .

24

BON JE AN :

Give me the name and the number.


S u re .

We'd be e x ercising

peremptory a g ainst Mi chael Barcas ,

144

jur or number 53.

THE COURT :

MS.

THE COURT :

MS .

number 14 .

9
10
11

Patel ,

Juror 2 .

Those are my numbers .


Yeah ,

BONJEAN :

3,

I ' m sorry .

BONJEAN :

Mr .

53 .

Mr .

Reddinger ,

juror number 8 ,

THE COURT :

So that ' s

and Ms .

jur y number

Sheridan ,

juror

four peremp tory

challenge s .
MS.

BON JEAN :

Correct .
Give me the o nes you ' ve

THE COURT :

peremptorily challenged first .

12

MS .

13

THE COURT :

Yes .

BONJEAN :

And then give me the ones


And I

will

14

everybody 's now passed upon and selected .

15

now give the defense the next four

16

with -- the reas on I ' m hesitating is we had exami n ed

17

Mr . Mourke before I

18

MS .

19

THE COURT :

20

BONJEAN :

jur or s

asked the parties f o r


Correct ,

Okay.

concluding

challenges.

your Ho n or .

That ' s what

thought ,

but

want to make sure ab o ut that.

21

MS .

22

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

You did .
Next 4 ends with juror number 18 ,

And ,

again ,

23

Robert Stuart .

24

out side with your client ,

if you wish t o step

Ms .

145

Bonjean ,

you ce rta inly

may.
MS.

BONJEAN:

against Mr.

juror number 16,

We would be exercising peremptory

Mourke,

THE COURT:

MS.

THE COURT:

ZARKOS:

juror number 15.

And Mr .

your Honor.
Give me those two -Sure.
the state hasn't passed upon

And I ' l l give you the next two which would be

yet.

Nitirut Chumsangsri and Victor Luengo Perea.

10
11

MS.

pronounce his last name.


THE COURT:

13

MS.

17

BONJEAN:

Victor -- I

can't

I'm sorry.

6.

We're going to step back f or a

minute .

15
16

Judge,

BONJEAN:

12

14

Bialas,

THE COURT:
Ms.

Back in the room is Ms.

Melongo and

Bonj ean.
MS.

BONJEAN:

18

I ' m sorry.

19

the box already.

Your Honor,

we have how many?

How many have we agreed upon that are in

20

THE COURT:

21

MS.

22

THE COURT:

23

MS.

24

THE COURT:

BONJEAN:

BONJEAN:

Both sides have agreed upon eight.


Okay.
Let me count them to confirm it.
Okay.
And you have also accepted

146

Ms .

2Byrd and Mr .

MS .

THE COURT :

there ' s

Stewart .
Correct .

BONJEAN:

Let me read the eight

just so

no confus ion.

MS .

THE COURT :

Sure .

BONJEAN :

Ronald Davis ,

Hernandez Tamayo ,

are eight

Taneka Canter ,

John Sprague ,

Cruz Crossley ,

Deandre Barbara ,

Maria

Brenda Garcia and Ro bert Seggerman

jurors accepted by both sides.

10

The defense has additionally ac cepted ,

11

and the state has not yet passed upon Tiffani By rd

12

and Robert Stewart .

13

MS .

14

THE COUR T:

15
16

BONJEAN :

Correct ,

The defense has exercised six

peremptory challenges .
MS .

your Honor.

BONJEAN :

They have one remaini ng .

Very good ,

your Honor.

17

The defense would exercise its final

18

ag ainst Mr.

Okay.

challenge

Nitirut Chumsangsri.

19

THE DEFENDANT :

20

MS .

21

THE COURT:

BONJEAN :

Number 19.
Number 19 .

Well ,

let me give you - -

well,

22

won ' t give you Anna Carmicha el because you don ' t

23

the wherewithal to strike her.

24

MS.

BONJEAN :

Right ,

correct .

147

I
have

THE COURT :

MS.

And here ' s Mr .

4
5

Byrd ,

Carmichael .

8
9

that 's fine,

your Honor.

Luengo Perez .
So I ' m giving the state Tiffani

Robert Stewart ,

MS .
Mr .

Yes ,

BONJEAN :

THE COURT :

So I ' m not --

Victor Luengo - Perea ,

and Anna

State uses it peremptory against

ZARKOS :

Stewart .
THE COURT:

10

MS.

11

THE COURT :

12

MS.

13

THE COURT :

Against Mr .
That ' s

ZARKOS :

Stewart .

it.

I ' ll give the state Patience Nunoo.

BONJEAN :

Judge ,
I

don ' t

okay .

Very good .

tender any back to the

14

defense because the defendant doesn't have the

15

wherewithal to say yes or no .

16
17
18

MS .

BONJEAN :

No ,

understand.

understand ,

your Honor .
MS .

ZARKOS :

We ever no problem Ms .

19

believe she was a Ms .

20

THE COURT :

And again I

jurors with my apologies to Adrienne .

22

I ' ve read some of them already ,

23

jurors ,

24

John Sprague ,

Deandre Barbara ,

Even though

but these are our 12

Cruz Crossley ,

148

will read all 12 of the

21

Taneka Canter ,

Nunoo.

Ronald Davis ,

Maria Hernandez

Tamayo ,

Brenda Garc i a ,

Luengo - Per e a ,

Nuno o.

4
5

Anna Carmichael ,

THE COURT :

MS.

THE COURT :

12

ZARKOS :

ZARKOS :

the defense ,

Patience

alternate

MS .

No p r oblem ,

You ac ce pt him .
We do ,

your Hon or .

I ' l l tender alternate number one to

One strike for

BONJEAN :

alternates ,

your Honor .

Mi n Park .
the two

co r rect?

13

THE COURT :

14

MS .

15

THE COURT :

One strike for each s eat .


Okay .

BONJEAN :

16

exercise a

17

number one .

18

chal lenge f or --

So in other words

strike for Mr .

Park ,

if you did not

he will be alternate

And you only have one alternate

19

MS.

20

THE COURT:

21

MS.

22

Tiffani Byrd ,

number one Min P a rk .


MS .

11

Victor

I ' l l tender to the state a s

10

Robert Seggerman ,

Understood .

BO NJ EAN :

-- alternate number

BONJEAN :

Understood.

Okay .

exercise our peremptory as to Mr .

23

THE COURT :

24

MS.

ZARKOS :

State ,
I

We will

Park.

I ' ll tender John O 'S ullivan.

have no objection to Mr .

14 9

O'Sullivan.

He's alternate number one.

THE COURT:

tender the state as alternate number 2,

Robinson.

s
6

MS.
Mr.

ZARKOS:

MS.

THE COURT:

10

Christ

have no problem wi th

Robinson.

I'll

BONJEAN:

Neither do we ,

your Honor.

He's alter number two.

As

indicated before alternate number will be the first


juror to replace any excused or dismissed alternate.

11

And alternate number 2 will be

12

thereafter.

13

to have the

We do have a
14

14

juror --

jury.

I'm going

jurors brought back here.


They'll be given certain information

15

by our sheriffs.

16

phone numbers and where to come.

17

It's

just piece of paper regarding

Tomorrow I'm going to request that

18

they be brought back here at 10:

19

towards starting at 10:

20

everybody's schedule as we discussed before.

21

to whatever anybody's got to do,

22

what we' 11 do.

23

MS.

24

the building.

BONJEAN:

Yes,

30.

15 with a view

And that works

Subject

but we expect that ' s

your Honor.

150

for

will be in

THE COURT :

If we go a

little late that ' s

no t

problem .

MS .

THE COURT :

Thank you .

BONJEAN :

But that ' s

swear the

jury in today.

will not comm e nce .

We will not

our hope .

That is to say the trial

They will be sworn in tomorrow.

We will send them home today .

We will

resolve the outstanding motion in limine and anything

else we can resolve if there ' s

10

resolve .

11
12

And we ' ll will come back tomorrow.


Does that sound like a plan?

13
14

MS .

ZARKOS :

Are we doing the motion in here or

in the courtroom .

15
16

anything else to

THE COURT :
the

juror s

I' ll do it in the courtroom after

a re go n e .

17

(WHEREUPON ,

the following

18

proceedings were had in the

19

presence and hearing of the

20

venire : )

21

THE COURT :

Thanks to an excellent

job by

22

everyone ,

23

the following pe rs ons to please stand up :

24

Canter ,

bu t

mostly all of you .

Cruz Crossley ,

We ' re done.

Ronald Davis ,

151

want

Tan eka

John Sprague,

Deandre Barbara,

Maria Hernandez Tamayo,

Garcia ,

Carmichael,

Tiffani Byrd,

O ' Sullivan ,

Chris Robinson.

folks.

Robert Seggerman,

Victor Luengo-Perea,
Patience Nunoo,

You are our

Brenda
Anna

John

Stay there for a mome nt,

jurors.

want you to now

go back with Tim and Kelly,

I ' l l have you brought back out here momentar ily.

back to the jury room.

(Jury excused ) .
You're going to be excused at t his

10
11

time,

12

them .

folks.

Tim has your checks.

He can distrib u t e

Do you want to do it all in the hallwa y .

13

THE SHERIFF:

14

THE COURT:

Yes.
Will that work.

Thank you.

judges who I

was

15

not in the military but

serve are

16

absolutely resolute that short of active milita ry

17

service for your nation in time of war;

18

banal and however routine this may seem,

19

among the highest services you can afford your

20

country.

however,
it really is

You have done so today in an exemplary

21
22

manner.

And I

thank you on a personal and

23

professional level.

24

ladies and gentlemen.

Safe home.

152

Thank you very much,

(Whereupon ,

the

jury was

returned to the court room)

THE COURT :

completely done,

home and that 's because I

discu ss with the attorneys to res olve certain issues

that once we get those out of our way,

to streamlin e pres ent ati on o f

tomo rrow.
I

10

know our court date is not

folks.

But I'm going to send you


have certain matters to

we will able

this case beginning

want you back here tomorrow at 10 : 15

This is courtroom 404 .

11

am .

12

on the piece paper that Tim and Kelly have given you

13

with all the necessary informati on .


But it 's room 404.

14
15

And I

come in the side,

You want them to

correct?

16

THE SHER IFF:

17

THE COURT :

18

courtroom front

19

and this afternoon .

20

a doorway here .

21

expect that that's

Yes.
In other words don ' t

come in the

door where you came in this morning


Come down the hallway.

There's

It's the only doorway here on your

22

right as you're walking down.

23

and you are be directed into the

24

are .

Just walk right

in,

jury room where you

We ' ll have coffee and donuts and some juice for

153

you in the morning ,

every morning that you're here .

We ' ll have lunch fo r

2
3

news -- it ' s

news and bad news .

on out ,

The good

joke in this building is that


The good news is that

I've got

from here

lunch is on the county .


The bad news is lunch is on the

It ' s

cou nty.

meal.

free to bring a brown bag ,

It ' s

It ' s

actually not a bad meal .

10

you .

hot

But at the same time you 're

appropriate .

Tupperware full of salad,

whatever you wish .


We don ' t

11

have microwaves ba ck here,

12

can ' t

heat up soup or anything like that .

13

want to bring your own food .

14

absol utely welcome to do so .

But if you

Your own sna cks ,

Bring your medications .

15

you ' re

Bring a

16

bottle or a drink of water if you wish to or juice

17

whatev er you wish to do .


And if you want to bring that water or

18

19

that

20

you' re listening to evidence ,

21

so

juice out into open court with you to have as


that ' s

absolutely fine.

You may see the attorneys ,

the parties

22

in the courtroom or in the hallways perhaps when you

23

come in tomo r row morning ,

24

at the end of the day .

perhaps lunchtim e ,

154

perhaps

They will not communicate with you in

They wi ll not even nod and say hello .

any way.

That's not because they are rude or unfriendl y

pe o ple.
That is because they are pa yi ng

attention to my admonition to them to have n o

communication at all .

as communication with you outside the b ou n ds of th i s

courtroom here in open court.

Nothing that can b e

c on s t r ued

Not because they're rude o r

10
11

unfriendly ,

12

with this case ,

13

t h ink i l l of them .

14

so if you see anybody who's conn ec t ed


and they don't acknowledge,

don ' t

When you come in tomorrow when we're

15

h earing evidence in this case ,

16

wh atever seat you want.

17

are relatively hard of hearing,

18

the witness box,

19

you can sit in

If there is a ny o f
want t o s i t

you who
closer to

sit closer to the witness b ox .

We will take breaks at ap p r o pri ate

20

periods of time to stretch our legs and t o use the

21

facilities .

22

If for any reason you nee d t o

23

p articular a break .

24

o pening statements ,

And I'm not taking o n e duri ng a n


an argument or a presenta t i o n of

155

a witness,

but if you want a break,

I ' l l see you.

raise your hand.

And I ' l l

say well,

we're going to take a break for five minutes.

don't

to write something down,

need a break.

see because I

got the blinders on,


say,

excuse me,

And we will take a break.

If I

I'm trying
Judge,

Nobody's

going to set there and suffer at all while we're

going through this process.

10

I'm sure I'm forgetting

something.
If

11

do feel

I'm not,

Kelly will take care of

12

it.

like I'm forgetting

something,

13

doesn't spring to mine at the moment.

14

You can anticipate,

15

t i l l roughly around 5:00 o'clock,

16

later depending on how long the evidence will go.

17

The sun doesn't go down t i l l after

18

7:00 -- well,

19

year,

20

after 7:00,

folks,

but it

maybe a

being here
little bit

closer to 8:00 this time of

so I'm not concerned about that at all.


You'll be able to park in the lot

21

across the way.

22

admonish you of is to stay off that

23

connection with this case.

24

internet in connection with this at all until you're

think the only thing I

156

want to

internet in

Don't do anything on

instructed otherwise or are discharged fr om your

responsibili ties.
You are ,

of course ,

free to use the

internet otherwise however you wish to.

di scuss this case with anyone ,

membe rs ,

hav e

attorney s

your deliberation .

strangers ,

11

jury.

15 .

family

the ar guments of the

and my instructions on th e

morning at 10 :

Safe home .
Thanks ,

12
13

friends ,

even among yourselves until you

heard all the evidence ,

10

Do not

law and begun

I ' l l see you tomorrow

folks.

All

rise for

(J ury excused for


THE COURT :
I

Thanks ,

eve ry one .

am in receipt o f

Ms .

Melongo's enti tled

seated .

15

om nibus mot ion in limine filed o n June 25 ,

16

I ' ve reviewed it.


MS .

18

THE COURT :
tod ay,

20

begin tomorrow .

21

2014 .

Do you wish to argue.


Yes ,

BONJEAN :

19

today )

You ca n be

14

17

th e

your Honor.

like to resol v e

its paramet ers

so everybody knows where we stand when we

MS .

BONJEAN :

22

over a

23

put i t in writing .

24

may have

Yes ,

your Honor .

filed that

lunch period after Judge Goebel ha d as ked me


So I

apologize

for any typ os you

found or an ything of that nature.

157

was on

a very short time period when I

did do that.

And then the state ultimately needed

additional time ,

to the Court.
And actually having said -- go

THE COURT :

so hopefully the crux of it is clear

But let me interrupt you

ahead and argue .

minute.

all about other than what I've read in the

indictment.

don't

know anything about what the case is

What is the case all about?

10

just for a

And I

11

asked that only in the context of being able to see

12

if any of this

13

it is.

14

state's theory of the case,

15

collateral.

is or is not admissible because maybe

Maybe i t ' s collateral depending on what the

16

maybe i t ' s not

So what all is the state's theory of

17

the case.

18

or

If you want to express that,

if you wanted to ,

19

MS .

BONJEAN:

Ms.

Well,

Ms.

Zarkos,

Bonjean.
the state's theory of the

20

case today maybe different than what

21

theory case to have been for over this period of

22

time.

23
24

understand the

My understanding of the theory of the


case was that my client who worked for Ms.

158

Spizzir ri

at the Save a Life Foundation was terminated.

in some disgruntled state or as a

angry about being terminated,

server at the Save a

computer,

That

result of being

that she accessed a

Life Foundation via a

laptop

and that she did various things .


With respect to Counts 1 and 2 ,

she

deleted hundreds and hundreds of files

information and all types of other informati on and

those counts have now been nolled as the Court is

10

of fin ancial

well aware.

11

don't

know that that changes the

12

th eory of their case.

13

apparently they have some issues with pro ving that

14

any files were deleted or that Ms.

15

responsible .

16

But it demonstrates that

Melongo is

Along with this there's an allegation

17

that she remotely accessed as the Court is aware

18

Ms.

19

altered the subject line and forwarded the e-ma il

20

accounts ,

21

Founda tion.

Spizzirri's e-mail account.

22

And then appar ently

an e - mail to employees of the Save a Life

And the substance of the e - mail is,

23

guess,

Ms.

Melongo,

expressing,

24

necessarily disgruntledness

159

you know,

her -- not

( sic ) of being terminated

but some dissatisfaction with Ms.

And I

Spizzirri.

believe we can put that -- if

the Court is interested in what that e-mail actually

is,

certainly can make that a matter of record.

THE COURT:

MS.

THE COURT:

screen,

10
11

if by offer of proof.

Sure.

BONJEAN:

You don't have put it up on the

but you can just tell me what i t ' s all about.

MS.

Yes,

Sure.

BONJEAN:

THE COURT:

Or you can show me if you want to

show me a written e-mail.

12

MS.

It's a

BONJEAN:

short e - mail,

think,

So i t ' s actually an exhibit I ' l l be

13

your Honor.

14

providing.

15

objection to this exhibit.

16

as well.

17

don't

we will have an

know that
I

should point that out

It's written by Christian Sass

18

(phonetic)

19

case.

20

foundational

21

who I

So I

understand is not a witness in the

think they have some pretty huge


requirements.
But I

don't

know if we want to get

22

into that right now.

23

would ask the Court to make a pretrial ruling to

24

preclude them from offering this as an exhibit

But if this

160

is their exhibit,

because they cannot lay the fou ndation f or it as

as

can see.

In any event the e - mail that we ' re


i t ' s okay .

My client wrote ,

Hey ,

talking about

Carol ,

can ' t imagine what a path o logical liar you are.

I've received this e-mail forward ed to me.

And I ' v e

offered my help because while working there


The problem with you ,

got the same issue .

Ca rol,

is you lie too much just to get what y ou want.

11

12

have a

13

expose you.

14

do hope that you 're st i ll going to

trial with Robert Cal

(phon e tic)

will

And that's the nature of the e - mail .

THE COURT :

Well ,

15

to a dmit it tonight,

16

Ms.

17

I ' ve learned about your is sue today.

10

f ar

formally,

I' m not asking you

but purportedly written by

Melongo .
MS .

BONJEAN:

Co rrect,

purporte dly wri t ten by

18

my a nd then forwarded to additional Save a Life

19

Foundat ion staff members.

20

THE COU RT:

21

MS .

By computer.

BONJEAN:

Apparently by sendin g an e - ma il

22

and forwarding to a

group of indivi duals by e- ma il.

23

That's right ,

24

is additional e -mails in this exhibit which is part

your Honor.

So in an y event there als o

161

of a

thread of e-mails including individuals who are

not testifying as

on the witne ss list.

far as

know because they're not

So if they're specifically going to

testify and ask Ms.

particular e-mail that my clients purportedly wrote,

suppose they can attempt to do that.

8
9
10
11
12

But to offer in other e - mails written


by other people that

THE COURT :

14

THE COURT:

15

MS.

16

THE COURT:
you 'r e

BONJEAN:

BONJEAN:

But you may well have very good

Sure .
But let's talk about things -Correct .
-- one at time.

And right now

talking about your motion in limine --

18

MS .

19

THE COURT :

21

--

evidentiary objection to this being admitted.


MS.

20

is obviously objectionable on

hearsay grounds as well as

13

17

Spizzirri to identify a

BONJEAN:

Correct .
-- which is evidence that you want

to be able to get into.


MS.

BONJEAN:

There's motions -- there 's some

22

points in there,

23

why i t ' s entitled an omnibus motion .

24

point has to with the area of cross-examination that

motion to preclude as well.

162

That's

But the first

Judge Goebel had asked me to get into.


So needless to say,

your Honor,

will

get to the first

Ms .

client in an effort to cover up her own wrongdoing.

point .

It's our position that

Spizzir ri has made allegations falsely against my

So it 's not
I

ju st a matter of

cross - examination but

guess i t ' s also a matter o f

in our defense -- and not

our defense that if there was any wrongdoing,

just credibility ,

but also

That she had the motive and th e

10

done by her .

11

opportunity to do so.

12

THE COURT:

13

MS.

14

THE COURT :

BONJEAN:

Well,

let me ask you a question.

Sure .
And this points up why I

wanted to

15

know what the state's theory purportedly is .

16

it that Ms.

17

Ms .

18

the computer or somehow manipulating e-mails.

How is

Spizzirri 's allegations about what

Melongo purportedly did regarding tampering wi th

19

MS.

20

THE COURT:

BONJEAN:

Mm - hmm.
How does that operate by

21

Ms.

22

improprieties if not crimes outlined in you r

23

24

i t was

Spizzirri to purportedly cover up the

mean,
MS.

how does
BONJEAN :

motion?

she accomplish that?


Well ,

she got rid of financial

163

data tha t

was going to be the subje ct o f

And as far as I

scrutiny.

know still is .

And there still is an open

investig ation by the Illin o is Attorney General.

if she's deleting f iles -- and I

out ,

other em ployees as well.

your Honor ,

Ms.

8
9

want to point

she made th is allegation against two

Melongo is

before and on e after her.


A,

jus t

So

just -- there was one

So by taki ng the stand ,

10

she ,

puts her credibility at issue.

11

know tha t

12

we get to truth.

13

United States Supr e me Court has said.

14

And it ' s

And we all

cross - examination is the central way th a t


It ' s

the engine of truth as the

our position that sh e,

comm itted compute r

in

15

fa ct,

16

because she u n derstood that her conduct was coming

17

und er scrutiny .

18

I n fa ct ,

tampering of her on server

it did and remains under

19

sc rutiny.

20

issue ,

but that she has -- and she's also,

21

Honor ,

as I ' ve pointed out in my moti on has as been

22

ex posed at least in the media outlets.

So ,

23
24

yes,

it ' s n ot just a

cr edibili ty
your

And the r e's certa inl y evidence out


t here that I

certainly fe e l

164

that

sh ould have the

That she has -- that her

right to co nfr ont he r

whole foundation was premised on falsehoods.

with .

That she lied about her credentials.

And not just in an insignificant way ,

but as a way of

raising money including in sworn federal applications

for grant money.


And in addition made false

statements

to the public about who sat on her board of

directors.

And this was also with an eye toward

10

raising money that to this day has been unaccounted

11

for.

12

And is one of the reasons that the

13

Illinois Attorney General has an opened investigation

14

and while certain state senators and other

15

individuals have been calling for an investigation.

16

In fact ,

it was my position that she

17

should be admonished about her 5th Amendment rights

18

because quite honestly ,

19

huge outcry .

your Honor,

there is a very

20

There ' s a huge outcry out there from

21

not only politicians but members of the public and

22

media outlet that believe that she siphoned

23

approximately seven to eight million dollars.

24

is remains unaccounted for .

165

That

Now,

if these allegations were coming

forward which they did in an ABC series -- ABC 7 news

series by Chuck Goudie.

within a month of these allegations against

Ms . Melongo .

They came out I

believe

She ce rtainl y had a motive.

certainly had the opportunity,

false ly accuse my clients.

She

every reason to

What's more plausible?

A disgruntled employee just forwards

10

random e - mail to herself and deletes

11

nothing to do with out of

12

someone who had a

13

destroy records would have done so.

14

files

that she

just vindictiveness or that

reason and a motive to actually

So it ' s

a two - part argument not

15

only -- yes,

16

ca se.

17

even if the state is going to ask her one question ,

18

did y ou authorize Ms.

19

e-mail -- even on that one question,

20

would certainly be the difference between a

21

and a

22

she's the complaining witness in t his

She puts her credibil ity at issue.

Even on

Melongo to access your


a

yes or a no
guilty

not guilty verdict .


And the element of the offense quite

23

honestly because it has to be unauthoriz ed use.

24

question puts her credibility at is sue .

166

That

And we should be permitted to

cross - examine her with regard to anything that goes

to her penchant for making false

honestly any capacity is our position.

But beyond that

statements in quite

could theoretically

call her as my own witness because I

the one that did this.

THE COURT:

MS.

BONJEAN:

believe she's

My client is innocent of it.

guess -Okay.

I ' l l hold off.

So,

again,

Go ahead.

today is the

10

first

day that the state has indicated --

11

there was some talk about it on the last court

12

date - -

13

counts.

think

that they weren't proceeding on the first

So,

14

you know,

it does change the


I

don't believe

analysis perhaps a

16

it changes the analysis in any significant regard

17

because,

18

issue.

19

little bit.

But

15

again,

Spizzirri' s

two

credibility is still at

And her motive to falsely accuse my

20

client remains t i l l this day.

Whether i t ' s in Count

21

3,

know that i t matters

22

because she still has a motive to falsely accuse my

23

client of tampering with her computer and her

24

servers.

Count 1 or Count 2 ,

don't

167

And I

oppo rtunity to explore her motive ,

reason for doing so ,

evidence to the jury that she herself had a motive to

delete files and destroy evidence .

believe that to deny us the


her

and alternatively to present

Certainly ,

her bias ,

is all fair game ,

and to

deny us that opportunity would be essenti ally to deny

not on l y Ms . Melongo ' s

cro ss - examine witnesses ,

10

13

but also to present a

defense .

11
12

6th Amendment right to

THE COURT:
Ms .

Thank you.

Ms.

Dasgupta,

Zarkos .
MS .

ZARKOS :

Your Honor ,

we are proceeding on

14

Count 3 as counsel has said.

15

non suiting Counts l

16

unavailability of a witness who is out of

17

jurisdiction .

We will be motion state

and 2 based on the

As t o Count 3 this is the move ment o f

18
19

an e-mail.

20

limited purpose of identifying her e-mail addre ss of

21

stating that she never gave autho rity t o Ms . Melongo

22

to access her e-mail ,

23

cou rt as an employee of the Save a Life Foundation.

24

We will be calling Ms.

Spizzirri for the

to identify Ms . Melongo in open

A very short limited question ,

168

believe ,

the cross - examination -- I

completel y agree

with counsel that cross-examination is important.

goes way beyond the scope of direct.

Highly prejudicial.

Is irrelevant.

It has nothing to do with the

questions that will be asked on direct.

conducting direct,

cross - examinat i on on this Count 3 ,

one e-mail ,

the movement of

the e-mail that was accessed from

Ms .

11

of th e Save a Life Foundation.

Spizz irri's server and forwarded to an employee

12

I'm going to ask her to identify the


I'm going to ask her what her e-mail address

13

e-mail.

14

was ,

15

giving her her passwords.

whether she gave authority to Ms.

16

Melongo by

What she authorized to access her


Very ,

very limited questioning for a very

17

e - mai l.

18

limited purpose.

19

and 2 ,

20

record s

21

with Ms.

22

at this trial in front of this

24

And as I'm

and she's conducting

10

23

It

I will not be proceeding on Count 1

the alteration and deletion of financia l


of the foundation or having anything to do
Melongo deleting or alt ering those records
jury.

These questions are irrelevant and way


beyond the scope of cross.

169

They don't go to her

credibil ity to answer these types of questions.

And but she found -- how she founded


What information she provided on the

Save a Life.

grant or whethe r

to this count of the movement of one e - mail .

i t was

investigated is not releva nt

And we ' re goin g to have two technical

witnesses beforehand before we put Ms.

for the limited purpose of identifying her own

e - mail ,

10

her own e - mail addre ss and the type of

authority she ga ve to Ms .

11

THE COURT :

12

MS.

13

THE COURT :

14

Melongo .

Anything further ,
No ,

ZARKOS:

Ms .

MS.

16

THE COURT :
a

but i t ' s

18

afoot .

19

Count 1 and 2 ,

20

MS .

BONJEAN :

21

MS.

ZARKOS :

22

THE COURT :

23

MS.

Zarkos.

Bonjean ,

it ' s
but

your motion.
got a question.

Sure .

BONJEAN :

17

Ms .

your Honor.

I ' ll give you the last word ,

1_::Jr

24

Spizzirri on

was going to ask a minute ago,

little more firmly afoot however firmly

But the state has now formally nolle pros


correct?

ZARKOS :

hundreds of files

That ' s

right.

Correct ,

your Honor.

And Count 1 and 2 relate to -The alteration and deletion of


of Save a Life Foundation.

170

THE COUR T:

And I

suppose that might have been

related to some financial

parties'

information;

is that the

estimation .

MS .

ZARKOS :

Correct ,

according Ms .

Bonjean in

the second paragraph of her omnibus motion in limine.

These false

credibility go to the defendant ' s

had motive to claim Melongo had deleted critical

financial documents.

10
11
12

statements are relevant to Spizzirri's


defense that she

That is no longer at play in this


trial .
THE COURT :

Which I

guess is my point or a

13

point.

14

Count 1 or 2 in these hundreds of files

15

the informat i on is -- and you gotta keep in mind I ' m

16

not the computer literate guy

17

was deleted,

18

And the point is this:

you don ' t

If they were going on

but

know what it

or whatever

get that if it

is.

So who knows what it might have shown.

19

It might have shown that someone was maliciously

20

trying to interfere with the legitimate business of

21

this place or somebody else who was trying to mask

22

charitable fraud for

23

alleges that this person did something when in point

24

of fact maybe the person who did something is the

lack of a more descriptive term

171

person who sought to mask the charitable fraud .


But some of your documentation s eems

2
3

to suggest at least some people su spect .


MS .

would say more than some ,

BONJEAN :

but

yes .
But ,

THE COURT :

you know ,

I ' m g oing on what

And in that instance,

I'd be on real

you gave me .

firm ground permitting you to get into it in order to

show that person ,

Ms .

Spizzirri ' s

purported motive to

10

lie to hide her perfidy by claiming Ms . Melongo was

11

the o ne who is guilty of destroying these files.


So that she could turn to an

12
13

interested state senator or an interested state

14

at torney general or some person.

15

them ,

hey ,

didn ' t
I

16

get rid o f

where all this money went ,

18

them .
MS.

all thes e

kept good that would hav e

17

19

And then say to

BONJEAN :

records.
shown

but this pers on deleted

And that is what she has written

20

to the

I llinois Attorney General ,

21

She ,

22

agency that employed Ms.

23

agency that placed Ms . Melongo along with her --

24

Ms . Melongo ' s

in fact ,

Ms .

Spizzirri ,

yes .

sued Robert Ca ss which was the temp


Melongo -- or the temp

predecess or who Ms.

1 72

S pizzi rri claimed

both of them deleted file and then someone after

Ms . Melongo .
So it ' s

-- that is exactly what our

just to corroborate what our position is and to

apprise the Court that ,

the theory .

THE COURT :

yes ,

you are correct .

But in light of the fact

state has now nolle prosed those charges ,

jury gets sworn tomorrow ,


j oinder ,

That ' s

that th e
onc e

the trial commences ,

th e
doubl e

10

jeopardy ,

11

prevent Ms . Melongo from ever been being prose c ute d

12

for those of fenses.

13

MS .

14

THE COURT :

15

BONJEAN :

all those things would for ever

Correct .
Regarding those hundreds of files

that purportedly destroyed by whomever .

16

MS .

BONJEAN :

17

THE COURT :

That's right .
Okay .

Your Honor .

And even being hypothe t i c a l

18

in thinking in terms of a

law school examinati o n ,

19

shouldn ' t

20

in federa l

21

five yea r

22

once the

23

standpoint with respect t o what Ms .

24

with respect to files

sh e

be -- your client could not be prosecute d


court because of the resolution of t he
statute of limitations in that co u rt .
jury gets sworn ,

So

the issue from a criminal


Melongo did is

that were deleted including

173

financial

f i les is a

MS .

BON JEAN :

TH E COUR T:

MS .

THE COURT :

I
F rom Ms .

BONJEAN :

Melongo ,

very moot po i nt .

Correct ,

Ms .

be prosecuted thereafter .

yo u

yes.

k n ow ,

gu i lty o r

innocent ,

sh e c an't

And i t may well be that in the chess

10

perspective .

So which maybe very good for

Melongo ' s

game that

is a

lawsuit the state is sacrificing that


i n their effo r ts to keep out this .

to keep out

Wi th the result though - -

11
12

what

love about

13

and eat i t .

14

with an offense that relates to a

law -- you can never have your cake

T he results is now that they are left

15

MS .

ZARKOS :

16

THE COUR T:

Correct ,
So i t ' s

single e - mail.

your Honor .

certainly di mittimus

17

that regard .

18

estimation .

19

argument that this isn ' t

20

misdemeanor you ' re referring to .

And i t may be di mittimus

MS .

BONJ EAN :

22

THE COURT :

even a

felony .

24

talking out

jury ' s

It ' s

just a

Correct .
Not having heard the evidence at

I ' m not going to vouch any guess ,

all .

in the

in

And you may have an excellent legal

21

23

and it ' s

l oud like this

but

I ' m just

in order to set what the

174

issues seem to me to be .

Both with resp e ct to what was

originally alleged and with respect to what

the Court now .

authority as the agency in this case who has the

charging responsibility and the authority -- you and

those hundreds of financial documents

virtue of their dismissing Counts 1 and 2 -- it seems

is befor e

And if the state by virtue of their

don't have that authority -- have decided to make


irrelevant by

10

to be that the excellent arguments you had with

11

respect to Count 1 or 2 for being able to

12

cross - examine Ms.

13

have been directed against her goes to show that she

14

has motive not only to lie but to hoist her -- or

15

foist

16

clear.

Spizzirri regarding suspicions that

her perfidy on somebody else would be pretty

17

But i t seems now that i t ' s much less

18

clear if they're not proceeding on the counts that

19

relate to those parts of this case that have anythin g

20

to do with money that may or may not have been

21

misappropr iated.

22

I'm just trying pigeonhole and particularize.

23
24

MS.

BONJEAN :

So then

I'm not ruling on it.

think you ' re teeing it up

perfectly .

175

want to get into because it 's so much less relevant

now becomes that much more collateral .


And therefore inadmiss ible because t he

issue at this

a good person or not ,

di d anything with respect to this e - mail and whether

that constit utes the charges which she ' s

it constitutes the crime with which she is charged.

10

MS .

juncture is n ' t

BONJEAN :

whether Mr.

but it ' s

Understood ,

Spizzirri is

whether Ms . Melongo

-- whether

your Honor ,

and I

do

11

agree with your analysis that it ' s a much closer call

12

now that they have nolle'd Counts 1 and 2 .

13

That being said i t ' s impor tan t

to

14

understand that this allegation of forwarding this

15

e - mail which my client denies doing .

16

And that ' s

something to be clear

17

about .

And our position at trial will be that she

18

di d not forward any e - mail.

19

le gal argument ,

20

amount to alteration ,

21

Obviously,

but even if she did,

have the

it may not

et cetera .

But in any event my client denies

22

forward ing this e - mai l

23

this e -mail.

24

Ms .

which means somebody f orwa rd ed

And it ' s our position that

Spizzirri was responsible and had a motive to

But for every other context which she


has done ,

you r

Honor ,

THE COURT :

context?

MS.

BONJEAN:

we hav e all through

What do you mean?

What other

There is an ongoing investigation

into her conduct by the Illinois Attorney General's

Office.

THE COURT :

MS .

Ms .

BONJEAN :

Spizzirri ' s not Ms .

Yes ,

exactly .

Melongo's.

And she has

10

written many letters and when I

say she,

I mea n ,

11

Spizzirri has written numerous letters to the

12

Illinois Attorney Gen e ral pointing again to

13

Ms . Melongo and her predecessor Victor Rodriguez .

14

Ms.

15

com pany which was

16

that ,

17

these people in her company to delete her files.

guess ,

Spizzirri sued Robert Cass alleged


just a placement company alleging

Rober t

Cass wa s purposely putting

So again I

18

Ms .

think that i t ' s ha rd to

19

separate this out and not think that Ms.

20

credibility is not at issue any more just because

21

they ' ve nolle ' d Count 1 and 2 .

22

that Ms.

23

effort on Ms .

24

because she knew that she had to find a

It ' s

Spizzirri' s

our position

Spizzirri -- this was all part of an ongoing


Spizzirr i

to d i scredit Ms . Melongo

178

scape goat ,

so I

2
3

THE COURT:

Can I

see the e-mail that's at

issue.

4
5

do think i t ' s s t i l l relevant.

MS.

Sure.

BONJEAN:

Well,

like

said -- this

didn ' t have the whole thread.


And I

THE COURT:

get into evidence.

now.
MS.

get that this matter may not


just want to see what i t is

Sure.

BONJEAN:

Understood.

That's my

10

understanding of the e-mail that was allegedly

11

forwarded to my client which she absolutely denies.

12

Ms.

THE COURT:

13

if

14

be from Ms.

15

2006,

16

Spizzirri

This

I'm wrong.

at

Zarkos,

Ms.

Dasgupta,

is two e-mails.

tell me

One purports to

Melongo to Carol Spizzirri on May 1,

6:07 p.m.

17

MS.

18

THE COURT:

ZARKOS:

and the one below i t is

from Carol

Mm-hmm.
-- to someone that's not specified

19

on the paper I've got purportedly claiming to

20

whomever that person is.

21

Ms.

Spizzirri,

purportedly claiming,

22

think we found who blank Annabelle called times

23

or four times and stopped on three and left message

24

on my cell --

179

four

MS .

THE COURT:

ZARKOS:

Mm-hmm .
-- very similar to the former

IP

who corrupted system had not spoken to her .

She

refused to speak with Christian,

Thank s

so much for

follow up crew we are so behind hertz.

7
8

MS.

you folly,

ZARKOS:

bu t

thanks much for your

This is the one that was

forwarded .
THE COURT :

This is the one that -- it ' s

10

second one on the page.

11

that your state's theory was

12

MS.

13

THE COU RT:

14

go figure .

ZARKOS:

But the firs t

t he

one in time

Taken out
-- altered or taken out and

f o rwarded to other people.

15

MS .

16

THE COURT:

ZARKOS :

Correct .
Certainly forwarded to Ms.

Me l o n go

17

because she has the wherewithal to refer e nce it wh en

18

she sends the e-mail back to Ms.

19

correct?

20

MS .

21

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

22

question at all.

23

Ms.

24

ZARKOS:

is th at

Correct .
And my next question isn't a

loade d

But this is the state's theory of

Melongo 's guilt ,


MS.

Spizzirri;

correct?

Correct.

180

THE COURT :

Okay .

If your th eory ,

Ms.

Bonjean,

is that -- and I' m not telling -- I ' m not making

it -- divulge any of your theories .

MS.

THE COURT :

Ms .

look bad ,

8
9

understand.

If one theory is that

Spizzirri manufactured this to make Ms.

MS.
efforts ,

it ' s

Melongo

pretty weak in that regard.


Well ,

BONJEAN :

i t was amongst many

but we ' re isolating one.

10

THE COURT:

11

MS.

12

THE COURT :

You know ,

to do - -

14

MS.

15

THE COURT :

But I

understand.

because - -

Yes .

BONJEAN :

13

16

BONJEAN :

Not that

Right ,

BONJEAN :

I'm telling you what

Judge .

And I'm not telling you to tell me

what you ' re going to or not going to do .

17

MS .

18

THE COURT :

19

MS .

20

THE COURT :

Right .

BONJEAN :

It ' s

BONJEAN :

not my business at the moment.

Right .
Relative to the destroying of a

21

bunch of financial

records that implicate Ms.

22

Spizzirri and then blaming Ms .

23

destruction of those records probably required by

24

some state law to be held if you are a

181

Melongo for th e

charitab le

organization ,

MS .

THE COURT :

would expect .
Yes ,

BONJEAN :

your Honor .

That seems to be a different

of fish .

MS .

THE COURT :

Agreed .

BONJEAN :

And if some alternative theory or

argument is that well ,

Di d somehow get access to this .

no maybe somebody sent to Ms .

10

MS.

11

THE COURT :

12

Ms .

Melongo did write th i s .

Right .

BONJEAN :
I

don ' t

Although for all

Melongo .

Well ,
know .

that
I

don ' t

know .

mean

13

MS .

14

THE COURT :

Agreed .

BONJEAN :

We ' re all cognizant of people who

15

in our life like ,

oh ,

16

somebody I

hadn ' t

wish I

17

MS .

18

THE COURT :

BONJEAN :

19

Ms.

Melongo ' s

20

Ms .

Spizzirri .

21

kettle

crap ,

sent that e-mail to

sent it too.

Agreed .
That might not be a

part

crime on

just for sending it back t o

And if it ' s

-- maybe there ' s

a third

22

th eory here -- that if Ms . Melongo did s o mehow access

23

this without authorization and say ,

24

know what you ' re saying about me .

182

Hey ,

Carol ,

You ' re a pathological liar.

too much .

thing to say .

You lie

If you go to your trial with Robert Cass ,

will expose you which that ' s a pretty innocent

I mean ,

that ' s

consistent with saying

I ' ll g o into court and testify that what you ' re

saying about them is a bunch a crap .


And I ' ll tell everyb o d y in court what

you did in connection with this case.

And it gets

10

back to the de mittimus nature of this that I'm

11

talking about which makes everything else collateral

12

and distract ing with respect to the issues that I'm

13

i dent ifying now as being the seeming issues in the

14

case to me .
MS .

15

16

again ,

17

they 'r e

18

don't

19

Ms .

20

BONJEAN:

understand ,

part of it is ,
I

guess ,

y o ur Honor .

And ,

I ' m not exactly sure how

I ' m assuming at this p o int.

know what the state is going to offer

Spizzirri for -- exactl y .


They have now really tailored their

21

information to did she have -- did Ms.

22

authority to access .

23

the e - mail -- all she can testify to is wh e th er she

24

received an e-mail and can identify the e - mail.

Ms .

Melong o have

Spizzirri can't say that

183

And I

haven ' t

that can test if y that

THE COURT :

And I

suppose she could say I

to such and such person .

Ms . Melongo ;

therefore ,

MS .

THE COURT :

heard about any witness

sent

did not sent it to

the inference would be

Right .

BONJEAN :

-- the circumstantial evidence

would be that the only way she could have gotten it

would be by somehow accessing my account without

10

authorization thereby committing the crime of

11

compu ter tampering .

12

MS .

13

THE COURT :

14

MS .

May I ,

ZARKOS :

your Honor .

Yes.
We 'r e not only putting on Ms.

ZARKOS :

15

Spizzirri ,

we're putting on Shawn Voida

16

and Officer Martin as to give us evidence regardi ng

17

who sent

18

MS.

BONJEAN :

19

MS .

ZARKOS :

20

MS.

BON JEAN:

who accessed this e - mail and who sent it.


Well ,

Wel 1 ,

testify to any of that .

22

he

24

know who received it .


THE COURT:

somebody said.

the

That ' s what a

21

23

(phonetic)

trials is for.

the police officer can ' t


That would be - -

how would

Who sent it.

Maybe he could testify to what


But

I ' m not going to speculate about

184

MS.

I'm just thinking ahead.

anything .

BONJEAN:

said.

THE COURT :

MS .

THE COURT :

That's what I

BONJEAN :

mean .

Yes .
He can testify to some party

admission like that.

MS .

THE COURT :

10

He can testify to what my client

BONJEAN :

see.

That's right.

Or an admission by a party of coins

(s ic )

11

MS .

12

THE COURT :

13

MS .

14

their expert I

15

interpretations .

16

experts going to testify to.

BONJEAN :

Can ' t

BONJEAN :

17

Coins ,

yes ,

testify to any other hearsay.

Correct .

guess ,

exactly .

So and -- and then

you know ,

I mean ,

we have differen t

they know what they ' re

I've seen the rep ort.

don ' t

believe

18

that they can show access at all by my client.

19

in any event ,

20

forwarded by somebody.

21

you can ' t

just say,

well,

But

it got

It must have been Annabelle Melong o

22

obviously.

23

I'm not sure how they're going to lay the foun dation

24

for some of this anyway .

So part of me I'm having deficits because

185

So I'm surmising how much they'r e

going to be getting into with Spizzirri.

will be objecting if they're going to try to eli cit

h earsay testimony from Ms .

anything that she doesn't have personal

a b o ut.

obvio u sl y

Spizzirri about - -

or

knowledge

And her theories about h o w the e- mail


I

assume they won' t

got to where it went.

since they know the rules of evidence,

10

indicated as much.

11

But ,

you know,

so I

do that

a nd they ' ve

do u nde r sta nd that

12

yo ur Honor thinks that this may be getting in to

13

col lateral matters,

14

much of her testimony gets into

15

of f ers from the stand.

16

but it

If she's

17

authorize Ms.

18

19

y ou k now,

kind of depends on h ow
what she act u al ly

just going to stay I

Melongo to access my e - mails,

d id n ' t
y o u know ,

think it still puts her credibility at iss ue,

20

but ,

can't quarrel with tha t .


It's not -- it does bec o me more

21

collateral are my proposed cross - examina t io n.

22

I'm in a

23

chan ged so radically from over 30 days ago t i l l now .

24

Ag a i n,

little bit of deficit because t h e case has

THE COURT:

Which maybe to you and y o ur clie nts

186

benefit .

MS .

BONJEAN :

I ' m quite certain it is ,

the big picture .

But I

still don ' t

being found guilty of a Class

didn ' t

want her going

4 felony that she

commit obviously .

This is not
THE COURT :

but in

I ' m not poo pooing this at all .

certainly seems that Counts 1 and 2 are more serious

12

number of respects than Counts 3 is.


MS.

11

BONJEAN :

they ' re all Class

13

impression .

But it

hope

in a

don't give you this

10

small potatoes .

THE COURT :

14

further?

15

MS .

ZARKOS :

16

MS .

BONJEAN :

Yes ,

exc ept she has the same --

4 felonies.
Anybody want to say anything else

No ,
No ,

your Honor .
your Honor .

think I ' ve

And the motion itself sets for

17

made my argument .

18

what

19

remind the Court that we are ta l king about

20

cross - examination of the complaining witness here.

21

believe to be what ' s

THE COURT :

at issue.

And just to

Let me take them in reverse order.

22

Number 7 is the state seeking go intr oduce evidence

23

through any -- let alone Detective Martin and

24

Ms.

Melongo and been excused from sending X- rated

187

e-mails to somebody.

MS .

THE COURT:

MS.

THE COU RT :

ZAR KOS:

No,

your Honor.

From Kansas City .

ZARKOS :

No ,

your Honor .

All right.
and I

in any regard ,

having to monitor anymore in that regard.

MS .

BONJEAN :

THE COURT:

don ' t

I ' ll grant the motion


have any expectati ons of

Thank you ,

your Honor.

To preclude the state fr om

10

eliciting hearsay testimony from Martin.

11

quite sure what your -- short of an admission by a

12

party whatev er Ms . Melongo may have purportedly said

13

to him ,

14

MS .

I'm not

what are you talking about?


BONJEAN :

Well ,

your Honor ,

as an example

15

according to Detective Martin ' s police reports,

16

was also -- according to Ms .

17

o rdered something off Amazon dot com.

there

Spizzirri somebody had

And that there was a possible credit

18

19

ca rd fraud .

20

card to purchase or attempt to purchase $235 worth of

21

merchand ize.

22

Melongo ,

23

co mputer files

24

The offender used an American Exp ress

He says,

the possible offender ,

is an ex employee and has tampered with


upon termination of employment.
Again,

Ms .

Spizzirri herself has wrote

188

t o the former Cook County State ' s Attorne y -One at time.

THE COU RT:

paragraph yet .

MS.

BONJEAN:

We're not at that

With regard this annex cha rge ,

she told the former Cook County State's Attor ney

Mr .

cr edit card fraud even though that's a li e .

Devine ,

First of all ,

8
9

that my client was responsible for tha t

that ' s a like to the

Cook County State's Attorney.

10

Bu t,

11

that

12

quite honestly - -

that there might be an effor t

13

the state -- and,

you know ,

14

Ms.

15

B,

So let's start there.

I am concerned that based on the hist o r y he r e


and this is what I would call a witch h unt

I'm n o t

by

acc u sing

Zarkos directly or indiv id ually.


But based on my review o f

this cas e

16

that anything that went wrong with Save a Life

17

fou ndation got put on to Ms . Melongo in c l u ding some

18

Am e rican Express credit card which they never were

19

a ble to be connect to her.

20

So I am under an abundance o f

21

h o ping that Mr.

22

An d that it wouldn ' t

23

24

c autio n

Martin would not offer such evid en ce.


be an attempt to e l icit i t .

And I believe,
se v eral instances ,

again ,

there are

but that 's one exam ple o f

189

that

might play out.

THE COURT:

The state doesn't have any intent

to doing anything concerning any American Express

card .

MS.

THE COURT:

MS.

THE COURT:

And am I

ZARKOS:

10

MS.

11

THE COURT:

Yes,

correct that Detective

your Honor.

-- not to volunteer anything?

ZARKOS:

Yes,

your Honor.

I'm not worried about that.

Your

motion is granted in that regard.

13

MS.

14

THE COURT:

15

your Honor.

Martin will have been instructed in that regard --

12

No,

ZARKOS:

BONJEAN:

Thank you,
Number 5.

your Honor.

Does Ms.

Spizziri have

prior shoplifting convictions.

16

MS.

BONJEAN:

17

MS.

ZARKOS:

18

THE COURT:

19

MS.

ZARKOS:

20

MS.

BONJEAN:

21

MS.

ZARKOS:

22

MS.

BONJEAN:

23

Hono r.

24

that right?

Yes,
Wrong,

your Honor.
a very long time ago.

How long ago.

have the

We couldn't find them.


I

have them.

We couldn't find them.


It is a

long time ago,

your

she pled guilty in 1981;

To two counts of shoplifting --

190

is
think

it was -- we r e there two counts of shoplifting or

one?

Two co u n t s of shoplif t ing that she pled guilty

to in

' 81 .

THE COURT :

What was her sentence?

MS . BONJ EA N :

Yeah ,

let 's see here.

fine .

It ' s handwritten .

read.

Give me one second ,

fine ,

It ' s a little difficult to


your Honor .

So we don ' t

know if it was

10

supervision or conditional discharge .

11

state of Ill i nois .

13

It was a

your Honor .
THE COUR T:

12

She paid a

MS .

ZA RKOS :

Was it in the

It was in the state of Wisconsin,

your Honor .
THE COURT :

14

Aside from whether it was a

15

conviction as opposed to something like supervision

16

aside from that ,

17

People versus Montgomery and the Illinois Rule of

18

Evidence ,

19

how do I get around the rule of

think it ' s

MS . BONJEAN :

unders t and ,

your Honor .

think that aspect of it ,

think ,

21

that the 1981 shoplifting would could come in against

22

her .

24

It ' s a ten year rule.

20

23

again ,

No ,

609 .

I ' m not sure

But I would be asking the state to


disclose any current cases -- and I

191

still haven't

and I

don ' t want to alle1e Ms.

Srizzirri has them .

But that there might be other arrests

2
3

and/or charges that were filed against her since

then .

state of California for sometime.

So I

Again ,

don ' t

have access.

She's been in the

assume the state has done their

diligence and know their Brady obligations and would,

in fact ,

nature .

t en d er that

10

MS .

11

investigation ,

12

MS .

13

TH E COURT :

14

he r

ZARKOS :

BONJEAN:

16

THE COURT :

take them at their word .

And I

absolutely ta ke Ms .

BONJEAN :

think otherwise .
MS .

Zarkos at

do too .

And I

have no reason to suggest to

I'm going to leave it at that .

BONJEAN :

Very good .

19

I ' m not suggesting otherwise .

20

this witness hasn ' t

21

cr iminal system .

22

we did an FBI

word .
MS .

18

Your Honor ,

and there was nothing .

15

17

if they had something of that

And I

don ' t

-- and

But i t ' s not as if

had any interaction with the

And i t ' s a reasonable question to ask

23

whether or not she ' s

had any since 1981 where she did

24

commit and pled guilty to committing a crime that

many years ago .

THE COURT :

Well ,

number five

well .

Ms .

personal friend unquote .

Number 4 ,

quote ,

close

I ' m assuming that ' s her description?


MS .

BONJEAN :

That ' s her description ,

yes,

your

Honor .

10

THE COURT :

11

Attorney

12

MS .

13

you want to cross - examine

Spizzirri on whether she wrote ,

is resolved as

BONJ EAN :

Yes ,

of former Cook County State ' s

And I

was referring to State's

Attorney Richard Devine .

14

MS .

ZARKOS :

Once again ,

this is not about the

15

American Express credit card .

16

any questions regarding an American Express credit

17

card .

18
19
20
21

And the officer will not be testifying


to any charges on the American Express credit card.
MS .

BONJEAN :

your Honor .

Could you give me one second ,

My client ' s

22

THE COURT :

23

MS .

24

We will no pursuing

BONJEAN :

e xplaining something to me.

Absolutely .
Your Honor ,

this is why it

becomes an i mportant issue here because she ' s

alletint that my

Okay .

client made an unauthorized access.

And whether -- and that

she never gave

But she still is

my client access to authorize it.

making the claim that my client accessed her computer

in an unauthorized fashion.
But she has also lied to other people

7
8

about misconduct that she attributes to Ms.

Not only in accusation form but in actually stating


Dick -- and we have the letter that

Melongo.

10

dear ,

11

to the former State's Attorney saying thanks hard the

12

work of your prosecutors,

13

that Ms .

14

card.
Well ,

16

17

indicating ,

18

done so in a

19

relevant .

20

we were able to determine

Melongo took the American Express credit

15
lie.

she wrote

that ' s

She had made


yes ,

That was

statements about my client

a motive to discredit her .

false

THE COURT :

false

just not true.

fashion.

But then I

And has

do think that ' s

guess you would to go on

21

to prove that she

22

something with regard to the SALF American Express

23

credit card ,

24

that Ms .

p urchase ,

Melongo didn't do

pur chases .

And then all of a

194

sudden,

you're

discredit Ms . MelonJo .
She didn't

know at the time whether or


This

not Counts 1 and 2 were going to be nolle'd.

was all part of a

-- if this event happened a month

later,

later ,

the allegation that my client f o r warded this e - mail ,

if it was unrelated to the other computer fraud

allega t ion s ,

more difficult

two months

10

something like that,

would say tha t

I'm going to have a

time making the argument.


But this

forwarding was part and

11

parcel of the investigation,

12

had deleted these

13

remot el y .

the claim that my client

financial

And Ms .

14

files

and other files

Spizzirri in my estimation had

15

an interest at that

16

her employees -- dis c redit Ms.

17

employee s

time to discredit my client to

18

scapego at with regard to the financial

because she

Ms.

Melongo .

Me longo to her

knew that she needed to have a

And that Ms .

19

that

files .

Spizzirri had a motive to

And even Count

20

discredi t

21

that Ms.

22

all part o f

23

she was going to have to point to Ms.

24

perpetrator and not

3 enc ompasses

Spizzirri herself forwarded e - ma i l .


a ploy t o d iscredit Ms.

Melongo because
Melongo as the

just f or the c rimina l

177

She was

context .

trying a

charge which is again where it seems to be

collateral .

MS .

cas e

about

BONJEAN :

something that ' s

And I ' m not -- let me preface

this all with I'm not

all this as a

case has changed remarkably today.

sure whether I

tactical matter.

would go into

Like I

But that being said if I

8
9

not even a

Ms .

Spizzirri ,

well,

didn't you - -

said since the

say to

didn't you write a


And say that the

10

letter to State ' s Attorney Devine.

11

Schiller Park Police Department had proved that my

12

client committed credit card fraud which is basically

13

what she did.

14
15

But that's not true ,

isn't that.

She

was not proved to have committed credit card --

16

What's not true?

THE COURT :

That the Schiller

17

Park police didn't pro ve or that

18

or some third thing which is why it gets collateral

19

and potentially confusing beyond irrelevant.

20

mean ,

you might have a

21

legitimate points about this Ms .

22

don ' t

23

you 're telling me now.

24

know.

MS .

didn't

BONJEAN:

she didn't do that

lot of

Spizziri.

just

learn about this until what all

Right.

195

THE COURT :

MS .

But I

BONJEAN :

don't

mean ,

know--

there ' s

been no forum in

order to discuss that un t il now .

Ju dge Goebel had any idea .

im pression that he did either but the - -

least the allegations that have been made against

Ms .

don ' t

know if

d o n't get the


about at

Spizz irri .
I

do understand the Court ' s

concern

th a t

n ow that we ' re in this whole other territory

10

th a t

this becomes less and less -- I

11

become more collateral ,

12

do t hink that Ms .

13

Ms.

Melongo a

14
a

harm that

16

in fact ,

17

know ,

18

compu ter.

no ,

Spizzirri ' s mo t i v e

to make

sh e

is in a

way .

Like ,

i t still leaves
potentially,

just gets up there and says ,

she didn ' t

And I

don't have the righ t

you

of her motivations for

to explore

al l

21

think that ' s

22

problem with i t being limited in some regard .

24

oh ,

if

have authority to access my

20

23

scapegoat is still relevan t .

if she

19

it does

but notwithstanding that,

Because i t kind of

15

guess ,

scapegoating my client.

an unfair limitat i on .

don't have a

But to not let me e xplore at all based


on her efforts to discredit my client in many

196

different fashion including by letters to the

Illinois Attorney General,

seems to be -- i t ' s not what we see often.


I

mean ,

Dick Devine,

if there were a

you know,

it

complaining

witness who is writing all of these important people,

about the actions of an individual particularl y a

Cook County State's Attorney,

prosecuting here,

unnecessary influence -- or unfairly influence the

10

who is

respo nsible

for

i t ' s almost in some ways trying to

prosecutor but -THE COURT:

11

Yes,

but your motion doesn't seem

12

to be claiming -- tell me if I'm wrong -- but it

13

doesn't

14

based upon what this woman wrote to Devine.

seem to be claiming that the prosecution is

15

MS.

BONJEAN:

16

THE COURT:

No.
Use this letter as part of

17

Ms.

Spizzirri's motivations or are you suggesting

18

some impure motive on the part of the state.

19

doubt

20

you suggesting an impure motive on their part.

21

you're suggesting that they're wrong,

MS.

BONJEAN:

Oh ,

yes,

am.

that.

23

th at there's

24

of their discretion to be prosecuting.

absolutely believe that,

and I

-- as we sit here today,

197

don't

but are

do believe

22

would say

i t ' s an abuse

will not shirk from that allegation.

It ' s

absolutely abuse of their discretion to be

prosecuting her for this crime as we stand here today

based on everything we

know about her .

So based on what we know about Carol

Spizzirri .

do believe that she used her influence.

Ms .

her influence .

do believe that they had an impure.

Spizzirri used her influence -- attempted to use


That being said can I

provide some

10

proof that in the form of an admission or something

11

like that that the state did that ,

12

not.

13

THE COURT :

Then you shouldn ' t

no ,

of course ,

say it because

14

reasonable attorneys can alw a ys disagree on what

15

evidence means ,

16

MS .

but let ' s

BONJEAN :

But ,

stick what the evidence is .

your Honor ,

he did wri te

17

back to her.

18

State 's attorneys writes back to a complaining

19

witness.

don ' t

know how often the Cook County

20

And she -- what I

21

today really has to do with being permitted to

22

explore her motivations ,

23

because her c r edibility on whether or not she,

24

authorized my client to access the server or access

which I

198

am here debating

do think is relevant
A,

her e - mail .

And ,

B,

whether she herself had

something to do with forwarding this e - mail around t o

these employees .

can ' t

So I mean I

don ' t

know - -

you know ,

really put it in other terms than that .


But it is part of a bigg er picture .

6
7

And to parse this out gi ves a

think a

impression really what the heart of this case is

about .

And if they wanted to do that ,

surmise th a t

th e y should have

11

ing all three counts which is why I

12

statement th a t

And that ' s

14

that .

15

which I

don ' t

make this

you know ,

their -- it ' s

can ' t

obviously force

their discreti on

bel i eve is being exercised at all.


I ' m not saying that Ms .

16

you know ,

Zarkos is

17

engaging in ,

18

saying I

19

to go forward with the trial on Count 3 .

unethical cond uct ,

but I

am

do not believe that they ha ve the ev i dence

But ,

20

with respect to being able to

21

explo re Ms .

22

my client ,

23

di sabled in that r e gard .

24

do .

But ,

13

your Honor,

they should be nolle

10

false

Spizz i rri ' s motivati o ns for s capegoating


I

don ' t believe I

THE COURT :

4,

should be completely

I ' m not going t o p ermi t

199

you to

cross -e x amine her whatever she wrote to the former

Cook County State's attorney .


Number 3 seems similarly collateral .

Carpente rsville at some point where fire

to get back that -- I

utilized to the Save a Life Foundation by

Carpe ntersville is that --

mean,

we 're talking about

MS .

BONJEAN:

Correct ,

10

Carpenter sville -- I

11

gave funds

12

training ,

13

the return o f

for

to the Village of

know --

y ou r

guess the

chief wanted

donated or

Honor .

fire

The

department or the

Save a Life to do certain activities

et cetera .

14

don ' t

funds

It wasn ' t

done .

They asked for

their funds .
He made efforts to contact her

15

directly .

16

uncoopera tive in returning those funds .

17

as

far as

And was very frustrated that she was

18

Those funds

can tell were stolen .


She didn't use those fund to do what

19

she said she was going to do or what Save a Life was

20

going to d o .

21

chief is of the same point o f

22

can tell you that this

former

fire

view .

Those funds were taken from

23

Carpente rsville and were not returned .

24

Spizzirri didn ' t

do what she was

200

And Ms.

supposed to do with

those funds .

2
3

don ' t

know what else to call it.

And if it doesn ' t


I ' m not su re wh a t

does .
And that seems to relate to what

THE COURT :

was alleged in Counts 1 and 2 .

anymore .

MS .

your Honor .

that to not

That isn ' t

relevant

Credibility is always relevant ,

BONJEAN :

go to credibility,

And I

may change maintain that position

to let Ms .

Spizzirri take the stand

10

and answer two questions and not have at least the

11

we have the right to present an -- and I

12

t o use affirmative defense -- but we have the right

13

t o put on a defense .

14

And our defen s e

don ' t

want

could be -- and I ' m

15

not saying we ' re going to get there because that's

16

quite honestly I

17

case -- but let ' s

18

a defense which would point to her as the party

19

responsible

20

Count

don ' t

just say I

have the right to put on

for the allegation that even alleged in

3.
I

21

mean ,

22

to deny obviously her

23

a defense .

24

think the state can make a

THE COURT :

to deny me that opportunity is


6th Amendment

right to present

disagree with you in that regard

201

because for t he r easons I

it ' s

now before the Court .

expressed before ,

collateral to the single count ,

belie ve

Count 3 that ' s

So I ' m going to prohibit you from

getting into Count 3 -- paragraph 3 of you r

Paragraph 2 cross - examination regarding whether she

was forced to undergo psychological examination in

some family court proceeding ;

Cou nty or somewhere else?


MS .

10

BONJEAN :

11

one of the suburbs .

12

Cou nty .

13

Du page.

don ' t

15

findings

16

you know ,

17

OU

18

is that here in Cook

believe it might have been in


I

don ' t

know if it was

i n Cook

know if it was in Cook County o r

Or if it was Wisconsin .

14

motion.

And there are

about her tenden cy to be truthful or lack


tendency not to be truthful as it turns

t .
Well ,

THE COURT :

19

con text .

20

MS .

BONJEAN :

think i t ' s by whom and what

It was a

family court examination

21

that had made conclusions that became a matter o f

22

record that she had not been truthful .

23

had made false

24

And that she

statements .
I mean ,

again ,

202

understand ,

your

Honor,

3,

that this is not -- we're

just going on Count

and that this may seem - -

THE COURT:

No ,

no,

I'm looking to get the

particulars of what you're talking about.

a --

7
8

MS.

THE COURT:

11

THE COURT:

it was --

Potential termination of child

BON JEAN :

14

THE COURT:

15

MS.

16

THE COURT:

-- over in juvenile court


There are multiple --

BONJEAN:

-- or in a

guardian estate?

What

context was this

18

MS.

19

THE COURT:

This was --

BONJEAN:
--

when was it in?

Wha t

was the

issue?

21

MS.

22

THE COURT:

23

MS.

24

Well,

BONJEAN:

parent child relationships like you see -MS.

20

In connections with a divorce

proceedings or in connection with termination or


MS.

17

court ordered

psychological examination.

10

12

It was a

BONJEAN:

Was this

BONJEAN:

BONJEAN:

This was in a divorce conte xt.


It was a divorce -I

think there was litigation by

her deceased daughter against her for orders of

203

protection but I

physical abu s e ,

believe -- because of allegations of


et cetera .

But I

the divorce out o f

THE COURT :

MS .

think this was


Wisconsin .

How long ago?

BONJEAN :

Quite some time ago .

child custody issues .

THE COURT :

MS .

11

THE COURT :

BONJEAN :

in

what it came down to.

Child custody in connection with a

Yes .
-- as opposed to where the state ' s

trying to --

13

MS .

14

THE COURT :

15

MS .

16

That ' s

Oh ,

divorce proceeding

10

12

the context of

BONJEAN :

BONJEAN :

Yes .
-- take away children .
Correct .

Yes ,

your Honor ,

but it

was over 20 years ago .


THE COURT :

17

Beautiful .

And you ' re essentially

18

asking me to permit here to be cross - examined on what

19

some

judge concluded .

20

MS .

21

THE COURT :

22
23
24

BONJEAN :

Yes ,

you r

Honor .

In o ther words somebody else ' s

opinion of her .
MS .

BONJEAN :

found as a

Well ,

of course ,

well ,

result of the examination ,

204

what was

correct.

THE COURT :

MS.

THE COURT:

MS .

THE COURT :

I ' m going to prohibit that.

BONJEAN :

That was number 3 ,

your Honor.

That was number 2 on your motion.

BONJEAN :

2.

And that leaves us with number one

that relates to a financial claims and circumstances

or her daughter ' s death.


MS.

8
9

10

just

BONJEAN :

your Honor,

i t ' s not

it has to do with the Save a Life Foundation


That's what it all goes to .

being a fraud .

11

Well ,

And the question is:

Is it relevant

12

that Save a Life Foundation and Carol Spizzirri if

13

you credit what I

14

cross - examinat io n -- and then proving it up through

15

impeachment if she doesn't admit -- is that the whole

16

basis,

17

premised on a lie perpetrated by Ms.

believe I

can demonstrate through

motive -- the whole Save a Life Foundation was


Spizzirri.

18

Not only the reason why she set up the

19

foundation and circumstances but that she used as an

20

effort to raise money that now has gone missing.

21

I mean ,

i t ' s all part and parcel of

22

this acting on her part which does come down

23

ultimately financial

24

That ' s what we ,

embezzling from a charity.

you know ,

what we believe she did.

205

And what we'll be prepared to

demonstrate.

i t ' s not connected to her interest and motive in

making Ms.

believe that we should be able to explore that at

least some degree that she had a motive to make

Ms.

certain acts against her computers.

But,

again,

Melongo a

to parse that out and state

scapegoat I

think is not

Melongo her scapegoat and accuse her falsely of

But,

you

know - -

you know,

i t ' s hard to figure

10

out ,

see the Court ' s

in a di le mm a and

11

i t ' s a dilemma of mine as well.

12

in eliciting collateral material.

13

that's helpful to my client's case.

I'm not interested


I

But at the same time I

14

don't think

-- there is a

15

long history efforts on Ms.

16

discredit my client and to not be able explore that

17

at all,

18

right to present that to the jury.

19

Spizzirri's part to

think would be denying Ms.

Melongo the

That this woman had it out for me.

20

She was trying to scapegoat me;

21

going to make these allegations.

22

reason for wanting these -- wanting to scapegoat me.

23
24

mean,

again,

of course,

she's

She had her own

don't

know that I

would volunta rily get into it depending on where the

206

state goes.

But I

do think at this

juncture -- at

this

ruling on to what degree it would be appropriate to

cross-examine Ms .

juncture ,

the Court should at lease reser ve i t ' s

THE COURT:

MS.

THE COURT :

Spizzirri.
Anything else .

BONJEAN:

motion -- I

No.
It's funny how even some of the

mean ,

if you want to stick in this Gideon

10

hole something is in some relative sense many cases

11

that get

resolved in this building.

12

It never ceases to amaze me how

13

interesting things can get.

14

so than any other.

15

And this one is no less

It's presented by both sides.

I'm going to deny your question for

16

many of the reasons alluded to throughout our

17

dialogue.

18

information in which it is claimed that Ms.

19

falsely - -

20

establish this

21

solicited funds

22

agency,

23

others in order to get money that apparently

24

defense estimation has not been utilized for proper

believe that this material - -

made false allegations


foundation in the

this
Spizzirri

in order to
first place,

from people including a government

the fire department,

207

probably all sorts of


the

government o f ficials

be true for all

know .

But I

your motion relates to may well

find that the point of fact

is

complete ly collateral to the issues presented by the

single count that is now before the Court.


I

supp os e

could spe culate on some

scenarios that might hereafter arise that might

change my mind .

10

So I ' m not putting my writing in

stone .

11

But at the same time I

want the

12

parties to know what they can anticipate .

13

anticipat e that I

14

cross - examination of Ms .

15

presenta tion of such evidence in the defense case in

16

chief.

17

will not permit any


Spizzirri on these points or

But depending on what Ms .

18

say for all I

19

the state wants her to say .

20

antici pates she'll say .

21

But I

Spizziri may

know she may say something beyond what


An d what the state

I may well revisit the issue

22

hereafter .

23

is where the matter lies .

24

get into that which you ably the moment

But we can probably anticipa te that this


Now ,

won't permit you to

unsuc cessfully wanted to get into.

MS.

BONJ EAN:

understand the Court's ru ling

with the caveat that by this ruling it prevents me as

her attorney to put my defense on in part that

Ms .

to fal sely accuse my client of conduct .

Spizzirr i

had a motive and interest ,

And that she ,

herself,

opportunity

had every

motive to fo rward this e - mail that she clai ms that my

clien t

10

So I ' m now handcuffed to be able

forwarded .

to explore that with her .


And I

11

believe that that is an unfair

12

limit ati on on Ms . Melongo ' s

13

und erstand the Court ' s

14

collat eral material.

6th amendme n t

rights .

inte rest in not getting into

But now we ' re in a positi on where this

15
16

jury has no idea -- and will never have any idea

17

potentially of an interest on Ms .

18

to -- what she did and does .


I mean ,

19

voic e an obj ection to t he un fai r

21

unfai r

22

respect .

24

in my es timation ,

THE COURT :

She ' s

Spizzirri's part

so I will -- I

20

23

you r

continue to

limitati on ,

Honor ,

with all due

going to testify ,

Ms.

that this lower e - mail was written by her?

209

and

Zarkos ,

MS .

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

Yes ,

your Honor .

What she goin g to say as meant by a

phrase -- is she going to testify to whom she wrote

it?

MS .

ZARKOS :

believe she is going to tell us

to whom she -- to the file .

herself .

To whom she sent it,

THE COURT :

MS .

10
11

THE COURT :

13

MS.

14

THE COURT :

you mean?

Who was mentioned -- yes ,

Correct ,

ZAR KOS :

She ' s

means by the phrase ,


MS.

going to testify what she

our problem .

No ,

ZARKOS :

she ' s

She ' s

not going to testify

going to testify to the

18

following :

19

to access her e - mail account ,

Did she ever give Ms . Melongo authori ty


is that

And did she send - -

20

i s

Judge.

about any content .

for e-mail.

did Ms . Melon go

21

send it .

22

Not about the contents of the e - mail .

24

your

And someone other than herself;

17

23

writt e n to

Honor.

that correct?

16

think it ' s

Yes .

ZARKOS :

12

15

Who did you send the e - mail to .

THE COURT :

That's it.

But she is going to acknowledge

that she

210

MS.

THE COURT :

MS .

ZARKOS :

Correct .
Okay .

ZARKOS :

I ' m going to ask her the question,

did you send that e - mail to the defendant.

answer is no .

to access your e - mail account for the purposes of

forwarding this e - mail to herself .

Did you give the defendant authority

The answer is no.

The

Did you write and

send an e - mail regarding the defendant.

Yes .

Who

10

did you send the e - mail to and she will tell us.

11

Very limited questions ,


And I

your Honor .
guess

I ' m asking because --

12

THE COURT :

13

MS .

14

THE COURT :

15

she says our problem .

16

destruction of the r ecords suppose ,

17

anticipate .

ZARKOS :

18

MS .

ZARKOS :

19

MS .

BONJ EAN :

20

TH E COURT :

21

understand .

Because part of me seems to -- when


I

MS .

ZARKOS :

23

THE COURT :

guess ,

our problem is the


I

would

Correct .
I

would

Hang on a

turning the court here ,

22

24

second .

You might be

one of those ru les you know .

will not be --

I ' m sorry .

through --

211

Just so I

think

MS.

THE COURT:

BONJEAN :

understand.

-- is my point.

anybody .

MS .

BONJEAN :

MS.

ZARKOS :

No ,
I

THE COURT :

will not be asking her ab ou t

But if you 'r e putting the e-m a il

in ,

she can cert ain ly be cross-examined about the


cont ents o f
MS .

12

THE COURT :
pr o blem.

ZARKOS:

MS .

15

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

then

Correct .
Including what do you mean b y our

Correct.
And then the pr o blem i s

t hi s

stuff

that got dest roy ed .

17

MS.

18

THE COURT :

19

Ms .

20

th at

21

do n't

ZARKOS :

Mm -h mm .
She says by Ms .

Melong o .

Melongo says she didn't do it.


she didn ' t

do it ,

Her claims i s

may or may not testify .

know .

22

MS.

23

THE COUR T:

24

is her' s ,

What 's our problem.

14

16

claiming that e - mail

the e - mail .

11

13

t he

your Honor.

10

and if she ' s

understand.

content of the e - mail ,

Not to interrupt

ZARKOS:

She ' s

not going to sta n d --

And if Ms .

Melongo is charged with

destroying all those hundreds of files

212

MS .

THE COUR T:

don ' t

4
5

Mm - hmm .

ZARKOS :

-- it probably should be gone int o.

have any hesitation in that regard .

MS .

ZARKOS :

counts ,

If I

your Honor ,

would agree with you .

Annabelle called times

THE COURT :

was going forward on those

(uni ntelligible)

and left message on my cell offering

to fix our problem .

who corrupted system .

Very similar to the former

or

Have not spoke with her

10
11

should have said spoken .

12

Chris .

13

through .

Go f i gure .

Thanks much for

to be context in

which Ms .

16

corru pted the system .

17

reasonable reading of that e - mail .


MS .

your follow

We were so behind at first .

15

18

she

She refuses to speak with

It certainly seem s

14

IT

Sp i zzirri is blaming Ms . Melongo for having

ZARKOS :

It ' s

Would you - -

is that a

reasonable to think that

19

Ms .

20

the corruption o f

21

e - mail int i mates that she believes that Ms . Melongo

22

cor rupted the system .

23
24

Spizzirri believes Ms .

MS .

BONJEAN :

Melongo wants to help in

the system.

Moreover ,

point out that my client i f

213

don ' t

know if that

your Honor ,

just to

she were to take the

stand would certainly testify that she had never

called Ms.

Spizzirri four times.

And even the substance of the content


of the e-mail are lies too.
THE COURT :

Ms.

And ,

Zarkos and Ms.


MS .

ZARKOS:

guess ,

Dasgupta ,

deletion and al teration .

noticed in the caption.

10

doe that mean ,

11

written on May 1st.

13

The system is down .

Well,

at that time it was

don't
we

What

know.

kind of do know because of

the allegation in Counts 1 and 2 .

14

MS .

15

THE COURT :

16

It's the

It 's a downed system

your Honor,

THE COURT:

is that --

The system is down .

12

my hesitation

Ms.

ZARKOS :

That came later.


Because this woman did accuse

Melongo of doing this ,

17

MS.

18

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

19

that but

20

MS.

21

THE COU RT:

ZARKOS :

correct?

Correct .
And I

Later on ,

yes.

get that you ' re not going on

Correct .
So part of me thinks that the

22

defense ought to be able to bring out the fact

23

there is this dispute without going into a

24

know,

trial with Ms .

Spizziri .

214

that

long,

you

We 'r e

not going to do that .

I ' m not going to spend half a

about Ms . Melon go.

I mean,

day putting in evidence

And then have three days of testimony

4
5

from all sorts people about what their opinion is .

You know ,

wr o te this letter -- attorney general --

what anybody believes .

proves but --

10

MS.

I ' m -- and I

believe this that ' s why I

don't care

care what the evidence

You ' re talking about a despite

ZARKOS :

11

regardi ng lost and altered files;

12

talking about ,

13

regarding an alteration of files .

14

your Honor.

That ' s

is that what you ' re


a

dispute

Counts 1 and it 2 are not a d eletion

15

of files by Ms . Melongo ;

16

that?

17

THE COUR T:

is that what you mean by

suppose that still gives

18

doesn ' t

that give Ms .

19

Ms . Melongo because if the state is su c cess ful

20

having her adjudicated as a criminal ,

21

Ms .

22

sense ,

in

well ,

Spizzirri looks better at least in a

r e la tive

no .

23
24

Spizzirri a motive to lie about

It
some way o f

just seems that there ought to be

doing this without making it a

215

separate

trial that subsumes the charged offense.

just trying to figure out how without damaging th e

s t at e's right at a
MS .

And I

was going t o sa y

the people versus Annabel Melongo not Ca ro l

it 's

S piz z irri.

fair trial.
Correct.

ZARKOS :

And I 'm

No,

THE COURT:

understand.

But she's the

one that ' s making the allegation that Ms.

something with an ear to her detriment namely s en t

10
11

this e - mail in some manner ,


MS .

ZARKOS :

Mel on g o d i d

somehow alter e d i t .

She is the making that she ne v er

12

ga v e authority to Ms . Melongo to take her e-m a il ou t

13

a nd forward it .

14

MS .

That is correct.

BONJEAN:

If your Honor would like me t o

15

revise my motion in some way for tomorrow morning to

16

address this ,

17
18
19
20

I'd be happy to do it.


But in light of what we learne d t oday ,

perhaps it would be easier .


THE COURT :

i sn 't

it

t ru e that Chuck Goudie says this

21

MS.

22

THE COU RT :

23

MS .

24

It's not proper to s a y ,

Of course .

BONJEAN:

BONJEAN :

--

demonstrating - No ,

no ,

that ' s

not --

was never intending o n

questioning who said this and who said -- what the s e

216

allegations -- what other people's allegations were

in an informal sense.

That,

think would -- I'm not

sure would be admissible even

if they were going on Count 1 and 2.

understand,

what

But again to be -- and again I'm not

even sure how much I

there

strategy a

there was an allegation of that might not be the best

10

would get into this because

is obviously -- now,
little bit,

we're talking trial

but to even get into that

course of action either.

11

So I'm not certain that

would do

12

that quite honestly.

13

thought.

14

times that the case has changed radically this

15

afternoon.

But,

16

you know,

And I

have to give it some more


I've said this multiple

do believe that if they were

17

going on Count 1 and 2 i t would all be fair game.

18

But I

19

just because they're going on Count 3.

don't think i t ' s rendered completely irrelevant

20
21
22

I'm just sure how to circumscribe it.


And I

think the Court's struggling with the same


MS.

ZARKOS :

23

there.

24

questions,

And I

hate to put the question out

I'm actually reading you a

lot of the

they' re very limited in nature,

217

very

limited in scope for Ms .

other witne ss es .

And the fact

THE COURT :

Spizzirri .

have t o two

that you artfully

wished to limit your questions to this person doesn't

necessarily mean you can eliminate her mot ive .

MS.

THE COURT :

MS .

testimony that

10

No ,

ZARKOS :

So ,
I

ZARKOS :
I

THE COURT :

can ' t

eliminate --

so
can only elicit certain types of

need to meet my burden of pr oof.


Here ' s what

want to do -- and I

11

apologize bec a use

12

cert ainty ,

13

tomo rr ow however you believe best for

14

clie nt .

15

wanted to resolve this wit h

so that you all can plan to proceed

And I

apologize for that because we 're

16

abusing our court reporter too .

17

We ' re going to recess

18

this some thought .

19

MS .

ZARKOS :

f or today .

All right .

20

den ial of the past ones.

21

denied .

22

THE COURT :

your respective

Yes ,

should say I

am .

I ' m going to give

Can I

rely on the

The ones that you had

yes.

And we ' ll figure out

23

I ' ll figure

out how much and how I ' m going to let the

24

defen se cross - examine on this

218

suggestio n .

And

present evidence on the suggestion.


I'm doing this call tomorrow.

usually starts at

does that work .


Yes,

MS.

ZARKOS :

MS .

BONJEAN:

that

Burns ,

so I

Yes ,

your Honor,

with the caveat


of Judge

No ,

no take care of that .

Take

care of your business.


MS.

12

THE COURT :

BONJEAN :

13

I ' ll make the

14

for making the

15

Okay.
If I

have to make the

jury wait .

And I

jury wait,

will wear the

jacket

jury late.
But we ' ll resolve this tomorrow with

16

my apologize s.

17

now.

18

me ,

didn't lea rn about this case until

I ' m very thankful to all of you for educating


and we ' ll figure

19

MS.

20

THE COURT :

ZARKOS :

it out tomorrow morning.

Thank you ,

your Honor.

And we 'r e adjourned for today.

this by agreement t i l l tomorrow or motion state.

22

MS.

ZARKOS :

23

MS.

BONJEAN:

24

it does.

apologize.

11

21

9:30;

I ' l l see you all at

do have to at some point get in front

THE COURT :

10

9 : 45 .

It

By agreement I
We ' re fine ,

agreement .

219

would hope but.

your Honor,

by

Is

Because the

THE COURT :

jury is no t

sworn .

ha ve n ' t commenced and continued the trial.

ag r ee ment 7/ 29/14.

MS.

THE COURT:

BONJEAN:

your p atie n ce .

That ' s

It's b y

fine.

Thank y o u ,
Have a

We

ni c e

8
9

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

24

220

ev e ryb ody .
e v enin g .

Tha n ks

for

STATE OF ILLINOIS

COUNTY OF C 0 0 K

3
I ,

ADRIENNE WHITE ,

an Offi c ial Court

Re p orte r

for the Circuit Court of Cook County ,

Departm ent - Criminal Division ,

above - e ntitled cause ;

fo regoing to be transcribed into type writi ng ,

County

do hereby certify that

reported in shorthand the proceedings had at the


that

thereafter caused the

10

hereby certify to be a

11

of th e proceedings had before the Hon o r able

12

TIMOTHY J .

JOYCE ,

true and accurate transcript

Judge of said court.

13
14
15
Of~icial

to urt Reporter
#084 - 004614

16
17
18
19

Dated this 11th day

20

of Janu ary 2015 .

which I

21
22
23
24

221

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