Co-defendant testifies in robbery trial
One of three men originally charged with the robbery of a woman and the attempted murder of a man at a Gurnee gas station testified Tuesday that Kavin Spivey acted alone.
Travis Fleming, who served 14 years of a 25-year prison sentence for murder, said he was an unwitting getaway driver for Spivey in the Nov. 30 incident.
Spivey, 29, was in the second day of his trial on attempted murder, armed robbery and other charges in Lake County circuit court.
Fleming, 37, said he, Spivey and Lamar Hicks, 17, left the house they share that day in St. Anne, near Kankakee, headed for Milwaukee. Fleming, who was driving his wife's pickup truck, said Spivey asked him to stop at Gurnee Mills so he could shop for a toy for his daughter.
He said he let Spivey and Hicks out of the truck in front of Toys R Us, but did not see them go into the store.
Police say the pair walked instead to the nearby Shell station where Spivey grabbed a wallet out of a female customer's hands and shot twice at a station clerk who chased him.
Fleming said he picked up the two men after spotting them running through the store parking lot, and asked Spivey what happened.
"He said 'Just drive,' so I got back on the expressway," Fleming said. "A while later, I saw him going through a black wallet and he said we did not have to worry about gas money any more."
Fleming said Spivey threw a pistol out of the truck as they drove along I-94 in Wisconsin, then disposed of the wallet the same way after Spivey used one of the credit cards to fill the truck's tank.
Police obtained a photo of the truck after Fleming drove through the Waukegan Toll Plaza without paying. All three were arrested at their home about two weeks later.
Under cross-examination by Spivey's attorney, Christopher Lombardo, Fleming denied he was concerned about having enough fuel to make the trip.
Fleming said he had enough gas in the truck to make it to Milwaukee when he left St. Anne, and had $30 in cash he believed would finance the trip home.
Fleming also admitted he was convicted of murder in 1987 and spent 14 years in prison before being paroled.
However, he denied he was testifying against Spivey as part of an agreement that allowed him to plead guilty to a reduced charge of robbery simply to avoid going back to prison.
Spivey has denied he was with Fleming and Hicks that day, but prosecutors said they are prepared to call Spivey's mother to testify the trio stopped by her Round Lake home on Nov. 30.
Testimony is expected to continue today.