Batavia murder suspect fit for trial, seeks to ban statements
A 26-year-old woman is fit to stand trial on charges she fatally stabbed her boyfriend in May 2012 in Batavia, according to court records.
An evaluation on Latoya M. Baines, of the 1200 block of East Wilson Street in Batavia, was accepted last week by Kane County Judge Susan Clancy Boles. Baines is charged with the city's first murder since 2004.
The evaluation, which is sealed, was requested by Baines' defense attorney Sandra Byrd.
Baines was arrested on May 30, 2012, and charged with the first-degree murder of Gerald J. Jackson, 25, who had two children with her.
Prosecutors have said Baines stabbed Jackson because she thought he was cheating on her with another woman at an apartment complex on the 1100 block of East Wilson Street.
Byrd has filed a motion trying to ban any statements Baines made to police from being used at her trial.
In court papers, Byrd argues her client was handcuffed and put in a squad car on May 30 and never read her Miranda rights before police started questioning her.
Police claimed Baines was intoxicated at the time of her arrest as well, according to Byrd's motion.
Byrd also argues that Baines was given a paper gown to wear at the department, put in a holding cell and only read her rights once before several rounds of questioning.
Byrd, who has declined to comment on the case, contends her client had never been arrested before and was in no state of mind to waive her right to remain silent and right to an attorney.
"She was not read her Miranda Rights each time the questioning started anew and the questioning continued over several hours," read part of the motion. "Based on her mental capacity and/or physical condition a the time of questioning, the defendant did not fully understand her Miranda Rights and was incapable of voluntarily waiving them."
Boles will hear Byrd's motion on July 31.
Since her arrest two years ago, Baines has been held at the Kane County jail on $750,000 bail.