 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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