Confession out in '99 Wheaton murder

A DuPage County judge on Thursday threw out the confession of an ex-con charged with fatally shooting a suspected drug dealer in Wheaton in 1999.

Raymond E. Winters, 43, is scheduled to stand trial starting Tuesday on six counts of first-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Aldis Tucker.

Winters' attorneys previously sought the dismissal of statements he made to Wheaton police over two days of questioning in April 2009.

Although Judge George Bakalis initially found the statements were voluntary, he reversed that decision Thursday after the defense again argued that investigators coerced a confession from Winters after he had invoked his right to remain silent.

According to court records, Winters told police, “Y'all can charge me, y'all can lock me up because I have nothing to say.”

“It was within the first two minutes of the first interview, but they kept questioning him,” Assistant Public Defender Tony Coco said.

Tucker was gunned down outside his townhouse on the 1200 block of Reading Court on July 28, 1999, just hours after authorities questioned him about possible drug trafficking. Two of his acquaintances were later sent to prison on drug possession and money laundering charges.

Tucker's killing remained unsolved for nearly 10 years, until a jailhouse informant led police to Winters, formerly of Michigan City, Ind., in April 2009. He was arrested the same day he was due to be paroled on an unrelated vehicular hijacking case for which he served five years in prison.

Prosecutors have said Winters traveled to Wheaton to rob Tucker and then killed him in a “cold, calculated manner.” They said Tucker was shot repeatedly with a semiautomatic handgun as he tried to run away.

Winters may be eligible for the death penalty if convicted.