Defendant, who was indicted on one count each of solicitation of murder for hire, solicitation of murder, and conspiracy to commit witness intimidation, sought to suppress audio recordings by arguing that inaudible portions of the recording were so substantial as to render the recordings untrustworthy. The circuit court agreed and granted defendant’s motion. The State sought interlocutory review of the order as well as the trial court’s denial of the State’s motion to reconsider in which the State moved to admit a shortened version of the lengthy recordings. The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding that the State should not be precluded from seeking to admit statements from the shortened version of the recordings where there is no issue as to the trustworthiness of the recordings themselves and explaining that to the extent that the statements include inaudible portions, it goes to the weight of the statements and not their admissibility. (BIRKETT, concurring and McLAREN, specially concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Evidence