Death penalty OK for suspected Waukegan gas station killer

A Lake County judge on Friday rejected arguments from lawyers for Montago Suggs that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

Suggs, 26, is charged with the May 21, 2007 murder of Melinda Morell, 22, a Round Lake Park resident who was a clerk at the Check N' Go at 1147 N. Green Bay Road in Waukegan.

Police said Suggs entered the store near closing time, demanded money and shot Morell in the back of the head after she had given him $2,000.

Five days after Morell was slain, Suggs took the same .380 caliber semiautomatic pistol into the Ma and Pa's grocery store at 37737 N. Green Bay Road in Beach Park.

Police said Suggs ordered a clerk and a customer to the floor, then held the pistol to the back of the clerk's head and pulled the trigger.

The weapon did not fire because Suggs had neglected to load the first round of ammunition in the magazine into the weapon's firing chamber, police said.

The clerk lunged at Suggs and Suggs fled, but was captured in Wisconsin by Lake County sheriff's deputies after a short chase.

Assistant Public Defender Keith Grant argued in a motion that the death penalty was unconstitutional in Suggs' case because it is excessive and arbitrary and that errors had been made in bringing the indictment against his client.

But Circuit Judge Fred Foreman ruled that Grant's challenges to the statute have been ruled on by other courts and that the charges against Suggs had been brought according to the law.

Foreman ordered Suggs to appear in court again June 15, and a trial date has not yet been set in the case.

Suggs has been held without bond since his arrest.