Judge: jury to hear of driver's fateful day

Ralph Lewis didn't let a little thing like a crime spree interfere with his dating, prosecutors suggest.

They contend that in the middle of a 2006 mini-spree at Gurnee Mills -- during which they say Lewis used a fake ID to purchase items from Sears, J.C. Penney and other stores -- he took time to ask a cell phone salesgirl to dinner, promising to buy phones if she accepted.

At a hearing earlier this month, prosecutors outlined that and other events that unfolded on July 23, 2006, just a few hours before they say Lewis led police on a high-speed chase through Lincolnshire, Buffalo Grove and Wheeling that resulted in the death of Corey Diamond, a 16-year-old Eagle Scout from Arlington Heights. Lewis left after Home Depot employees suspected fraud and contacted the police.

His vehicle ran a red light at Dundee and Schoenbeck roads in Wheeling and crashed into a car driven by Elliott Cellini, then 16, propelling it 300 feet. Cellini was seriously injured and another passenger, Brandon Forshall, received minor injuries. Prosecutors argued that, when Lewis' first-degree murder trial begins July 21 in Rolling Meadows, jury members should hear about the crimes immediately preceding the crash.

On Thursday, Cook County Judge Thomas Fecarotta ruled they will.

Calling Lewis' behavior "a continuing course of conduct," Fecarotta acknowledged the prosecution's right to introduce events that took place "on the day the alleged murder had occurred."

However, the judge prohibited any mention of the events of July 22, when authorities say Lewis used a fake credit card to rent the U-Haul that struck Cellini's car.