Rolling Meadows cop testifies in murder trial

Prosecutors on Friday showed jurors photographs and a videotape that police made of a Rolling Meadows condominium where they say Patrick Taylor shot and killed 30-year-old rap music producer and performer Marquis Lovings on Aug 19, 2006.

Testimony from Rolling Meadows Sgt. Anthony Gaspari accompanied the crime scene evidence, which showed a section of bloodstained carpet where prosecutors say Taylor, 42, shot the victim during a home invasion and robbery of Lovings' home.

Several of Lovings' friends identified Taylor as the shooter when they testified earlier this week. They say he and another man entered the condo brandishing guns. Taylor struck several of the men, including Lovings, in the head with a gun, witnesses said. They say Taylor ordered them to lay on the floor and to hand over their money and jewelry.

Witness Armando Vera testified he heard Taylor strike Lovings several times and demand the combination to a safe that belonged to Lovings. He said Taylor demanded Lovings open a second safe belonging to Lovings' roommate, and threatened to kill a woman there if Lovings refused. After Lovings begged for his life, insisting he didn't know the combination, Taylor shot him twice, Vera said.

Crime scene video and photographs showed an open safe in Lovings' room that appeared to have been ransacked and a locked safe in the roommate's room.

Another of Lovings' friends was shot but survived, prosecutors said. Authorities attempted to identify the second gunman, but no one else has been charged in the case, defense attorneys said.

Vera and two other witnesses identified Taylor as the man who shot Lovings, in a photo lineup several days later. After Taylor's 2007 arrest, the same witnesses testified that they identified him in a physical lineup.

Among the more than 100 pieces of evidence collected from the scene was a duffel bag containing about 15 pounds of marijuana, Gaspari said. During opening statements, prosecutors acknowledged that Lovings sold marijuana.

Illinois State Police firearms expert Fred Tomasek testified that three shell casings found at the scene came from a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson Glock handgun that had subsequently been recovered by Chicago police from a West Side man who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. Tomasek said the shell casings found in Rolling Meadows matched casings found during the investigation of the shooting of a Chicago police officer.

Under cross examination, he acknowledged he could not determine whether the bullets recovered in Rolling Meadows were fired from the Glock recovered by Chicago police.

Testimony resumes at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in Rolling Meadows.