Degorski acknowledges 2 killings in video
In a videotaped statement to police in 2002, James Degorski acknowledged a role in the Brown's Chicken murders but refused to provide any details about what happened inside the Palatine restaurant.
The 4-minute tape --shown in open court for the first time Thursday during a suppression hearing -- provides little insight into a possible motive for the crime or Degorski's part in it.
His defense team, however, wants to bar the tape from trial because he briefly acknowledges killing two of the seven victims inside the restaurant on Jan. 8, 1993. Degorski apparently blamed his high school pal Juan Luna for murdering five other people, as well as having slit co-owner Lynn Ehlenfeldt's throat, in earlier conversations with authorities.
Degorski, now 34, has pleaded not guilty to the murders. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Luna was convicted of the slayings last May. He was sentenced to life in prison after a lone juror refused to vote for capital punishment.
The tape begins with former prosecutor Michael McHale stating that Degorski previously had told him the two friends had planned to rob the establishment.
"And … during the robbery, you shot two people in the cooler and Juan shot the other five and stabbed the lady," McHale says. "Money was taken and was split up between you later. Is that correct?"
"Right," Degorski answers.
McHale, who is now a Cook County judge, then reads Degorski his Miranda rights, including his right to remain silent. When he finishes, Degorski refuses to answer any questions about the crime.
"It'd be easier to just say it in court," he says. "I've already said it. It's not like I have anything to hide or whatever."
McHale asks him several more times if he would like to continue, but Degorski remains firm in his position. By that time, Degorski had been at the Streamwood Police Department for questioning for nearly 24 hours.
The brief video contrasts sharply with the 45-minute statement given by Luna earlier the same day at another police station. In that tape, Luna gives a bullet-by-bullet account of what unfolded inside the restaurant more than nine years earlier.
Luna, now 33, also uses a pen on the tape to mimic how he slit Ehlenfeldt's throat.
Degorski's attorneys contend his statement was made under duress after more than 24 hours of questioning and law enforcement intimidation. They have asked Judge Vincent Michael Gaughan to suppress all conversations with police at trial.
They also have petitioned the court to declare his arrest invalid because he was taken into custody in Indiana without a warrant. Authorities say they acted within the law because Degorski complied with their request to return voluntarily to Palatine.
The defense also is attempting to bar a Cook County jail paramedic from testifying that Degorski confessed to her about killings the day after his arrest. Paramedic Alesia Hines testified she spoke with Degorski about the murders while treating him for a broken jaw on May 19, 2002.
Degorski's jaw was broken by a Cook County sheriff's deputy shortly after he was taken into custody at the jail. The officer, who insisted he acted in self-defense, was found not guilty.
While examining Degorski, Hines said she asked him what he was charged with and was stunned when he said the Brown's Chicken murders.
"I asked 'How do you kill seven people and live like that for nine years?' " she testified Thursday.
She said Degorski responded: "It was just for fun, a thrill."
Hines testified Degorski noticed a newspaper on her desk and acknowledged the attention the arrests had received.
"Oh, we made the front page," she recalled him saying.
The judge has scheduled closing arguments in the suppression hearing for next week. The trial is slated to begin in February.