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Man charged in Aurora gang rap argues arrest was illegal

One of three men accused of a gang rape of a drunken woman last year in Aurora wants to have his arrest thrown out and statements made to police prohibited from being used as evidence in his trial.

Eric Stallworth Jr., 22, of the 1500 block of Kenilworth Place, has argued that he was arrested without a warrant on Oct. 2, 2012, and questioned after he repeatedly asked to speak to an attorney or make a phone call.

Stallworth is charged with felony criminal sexual assault, which carries a 6- to 30-year prison term. Stallworth, Corderro Pollard, 22, also of the 1500 block of Kenilworth Place, and Shammrie Brown, 26, of the 600 block of South Ohio Street, Aurora, were charged in October.

Authorities say the trio went out with a 25-year-old Joliet woman in Naperville on Aug. 15, 2012, got her drunk and then took her back to the home shared by Stallworth and Pollard near Aurora University and had sex with her when she was unable to give consent.

Brown also was charged with sexual assault because police said he didn't stop what was happening; prosecutors later reduced his charges to a misdemeanor battery. Brown is due in court on May 23.

In court papers, Stallworth's defense attorney Kathleen Colton argues that the woman didn't go to authorities until Aug. 15, 2012, and on Aug. 23 was working with Aurora detectives to find the home where the alleged assault occurred. The woman picked out a home on the 300 block of South Western Avenue, not the home on Kenilworth.

Colton contends officers lacked probable cause to arrest Stallworth, who was picked up outside the Kenilworth home weeks later, put in the back of a squad car and told he was under arrest.

“Although the defendant had requested an attorney multiple times and had requested a telephone call to his attorney numerous times, the officers continued to question him, eventually obtaining both an oral and videotaped statement from him,” Colton argued in court papers. “The statement referred to were coerced by the above officers, were not voluntarily given, and were illegally obtained and therefore should be suppressed.”

Stallworth is due in court July 2 when attorneys will argue the motion. Pollard is next due in court on June 6.

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Corderro A. Pollard
Shammrie M. Brown
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