No time to be nonchalant

Lately it seems that the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office has seen some cases slip away from them without any help from the defense.

One example is the case of Jenn Wyatt and two felony charges by the City of Woodstock P.D. That one never even got to trial. Upon motion by the defense during a routine hearing, a judge threw it out.

In another recent case a motion for a directed verdict of not guilty was granted by a judge at the conclusion of the State's case. The defense never had to announce a decision to rest or actually put on a defense.

In yet another case, a murder case scheduled for trial later this year, the prosecution has said it expects to need only one day and that the case is "not that complicated."

The defense must be licking its chops already and reaching for the form to request a directed verdict. Perhaps the prosecution, instead, should have said that it expects to need 5-10 days to put on its case.

Is the prosecution planning to call computer forensics experts (not former Sgt. Greg Pyle, for sure) who would have very carefully examined all the computers that possibly could have been involved? Will the prosecution call personnel from Craigslist to testify?

Will former employees of the Dirty Hog Saloon be called? Are there videotapes to be shown to a jury? What about the 9-1-1 call and cell phone records of Timothy S. Smith and his wife, Kimberly Holian Smith?

Will all the deputies and paramedics who tramped through the crime scene be called? Was the crime scene carefully managed in accordance with the highest law-enforcement standards of preserving evidence and in compliance with CALEA standards?

Will medical experts be called? Will the ER doctors be called? Will medical experts be called to testify about how much time might have passed between the time Kurt Milliman was shot and the 9-1-1 call was made?

How will the prosecution get testimony and evidence from the accused murderer's wife? The trial of Kimberly Holian Smith is now set for December 3, 2012. Would it be better to hold her trial first and get her testimony on record as to what she says happened? Assuming, of course, that she testifies at all. Her defense attorneys might decide that she is not going to testify.

All this is going to be done in only one day in Timothy's case?

The trial of Timothy S. Smith in Case No. 11CF000520 is scheduled for Monday, November 26, 2012, at 10:00AM, in Judge Condon's Courtroom 302.

If the games run as in the past, at some time during the 10:00AM call, the case will be continued to 1:30PM. Then there will be a 402 Conference, and the judge will hear about a deal. Sometime around 2:30PM, the judge will declare that no deal was reached, and it's too late for a jury trial to start, so everybody will come back the next day. Or it will get put off for a month because of "new evidence".

A better plan in our court system would require finalization of a "deal" at least one-two weeks before the scheduled start of a jury trial. If there is no deal, then there will be a trial, and the trial will start on time. The judges should put a stop to games and delay (and expense).

In almost every murder case, the family of the deceased wants a trial and a conviction. It is up to the prosecution to give the case 100%. And that starts with never saying that a case is "not that complicated."