Brown's suspect aims to bar tape

James Degorski inched closer to trial in the Brown's Chicken murders as his lawyers asked a judge Friday to bar any statements their client made to police.

Degorski, 34, contends he was coerced into making the statements while being held in police custody for two days. His defense team argues authorities subjected him to "continuous, laborious questioning" in an attempt to force a confession.

"They physically, psychologically and emotionally coerced Mr. Degorski and the result was an involuntary statement," defense attorney Mark Levitt said.

Prosecutors deny the statement was taken under duress. They say Degorski was treated well and could have refused to answer questions or asked for a lawyer at any time during the interrogation.

Authorities contend Degorski and his high school pal Juan Luna fatally shot seven people inside the Palatine Brown's Chicken on Jan. 8, 1993. Degorski has pleaded not guilty to the crime.

In May, a jury convicted Luna of the murders and sentenced him to life in prison. Degorski faces the death penalty if found guilty.

After Luna's trial, jurors said his detailed confession played a large role in their decision. Degorski's statement has not been played in open court, but it reportedly does not contain the same level of detail -- nor culpability -- heard in Luna's videotaped interrogation.

Degorski's attorneys, for example, have said he does not admit anything on the tape. Instead, they say, the video shows law-enforcement officials making general statements and their client answering only a few questions before cutting off the interview.

Still, the defense hopes to prevent the jury from hearing about his interrogation. During a suppression hearing Friday, Degorski's attorneys suggested he was wrongly taken into custody in Indiana and was threatened during questioning.

Just two witnesses took the stand before the hearing adjourned for the holiday weekend. The proceedings will resume Tuesday.

The early testimony described how Degorski was picked up by Palatine police shortly after 2 p.m. on May 16, 2002, in the Indianapolis suburb where he was working as a handyman. He was not placed under arrest, but he complied with a law-enforcement request to return to Illinois for questioning, according to an Indiana investigator who witnessed the exchange.

"It was pretty much a non-event as far as I was concerned," said Cary Milligan, an investigator in Hamilton County, Indiana. "It was cordial, businesslike."

If Degorski had not complied with the request, Palatine officers would have been forced to produce an arrest warrant and launch extradition proceedings.

Palatine officials later interrogated Degorski at the Streamwood Police Department, a Cook County state's attorney investigator testified. During his time there, he was allowed to use the bathroom and drink soda.

Degorski signed a document waiving his right to remain silent around 5 p.m. May 17 -- more than 24 hours after he was picked up in Indiana. He also agreed to provide a hair sample, investigator Brian Killacky said.

The sample did not match any of the DNA profiles found at the scene, court records show.

Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan is expected to rule on the defense request after the hearing concludes next week.