 Among
the motions made since the last
appearance of Harris before the
judge was a request by the
defense for jurors to be taken
to the Raymond Gee family home
during the murder trial. That
motion and others were not ruled
upon on Friday. The matter was
held over to another hearing
that will take place on April 5.
Drazewski began the hearing
by saying that a number of
motions had been filed and not
all of them would be heard on
Friday.
Assistant Attorney General
Michael Atterberry reviewed the
motions that had been submitted
by the prosecution.
One motion was to exclude
"certain portions of the
defendant statement." It was
stated that the defense had no
objection to the motion, and it
was therefore going to be
allowed.
The second motion for the
prosecution was for the
admitting into evidence Harris'
use of marijuana and cocaine
near the time of the murders. It
was stated that the attorneys
for the defense also had no
objection to this motion;
therefore, it would be granted.
In a motion regarding the
testimony of attorney Patrick
Timoney, the decision was not
brought down on Friday. It was
stated that the attorneys had
agreed to narrow the motion down
to specific testimony. This
motion was held over to be
discussed again on April 5.
Timoney was the original
public defender representing
Harris in October of 2009.
However, he spent very little
time with Harris. At the Oct. 28
hearing before Judge Thomas
Harris, Timoney filed with the
court that Christopher by a
statement of assets and
liabilities was "indigent." He
then requested that that Capital
Litigation Trial lawyers, James
E. Elmore and Mathew Maurer, be
added to the list of defense
attorneys for Harris. Over time
all three of these attorneys
were separated from the case,
with Dan Fultz and Peter Naylor
being the most recent to take
over.
Another motion filed by the
prosecution was an order to
preclude certain evidence or
arguments regarding Dillen
Constant's character. Defense
attorneys Fultz and Naylor were
given until March 13 to file
notices of specific items they
wished to address. The state was
then given until March 27 to
respond to that request. The
final hearing on this matter
will also take place on April 5.
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On the defense side, a motion
had been made to exclude a
witness from the list. That will
be heard on April 5.
Another motion filed by the
defense was to exclude
information pertaining to
Christopher Harris' dissolution
of marriage. Harris was married
to Nicole Gee. They were
divorced in March of 2007.
Drazewski said the motion would
be approved with the exception
that if the divorce comes up
through testimony, then the door
will be open on the subject and
subject to examination by both
sides.
In the matter of taking the
jury to the Gee home, Drazewski
set a series of dates for the
attorneys to comply with in
deciding the matter. Video
evidence of the scene is to be
submitted to Drazewski by March
8. On March 11 there will be a
conference call between the
judge and attorneys. And again,
the final decision will be made
at the April 5 hearing.
In other matters, Jason
Harris was scheduled for a
status hearing, but that was
postponed, with no new date
scheduled.
The date set for the first
visit to the Peoria County
Courthouse is April 19. It had
been previously stated that
Harris would not need to be
present. However, there are
going to be matters to discuss
involving the case, and Harris
is entitled to be present for
those. Drazewski asked State's
Attorney Jonathan Wright to make
the arrangements for Harris'
transport from Logan County to
Peoria County on that date.
The next public hearing
scheduled for Harris, as stated,
will be April 5 beginning at
1:30 p.m.
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