Rolling Meadows murder trial close to wrapping up

Attorneys expect final arguments Wednesday in the 2006 home invasion that led to the murder of a Rolling Meadows rapper turned drug dealer.

Another friend of Marquis Lovings on Tuesday testified in court and described the scene from Aug. 19, 2006, when Lovings was fatally shot inside his Rolling Meadows apartment.

But Patrick Taylor, the 42-year-old West Side Chicago man charged with first-degree murder, made a comment under his breath as he sat next to his attorneys on Tuesday. He thought the friend was acting on the witness stand.

“She could get a Grammy,” Taylor said, apparently confusing award shows.

Marya Klein needed tissues to wipe the tears while she retold her experience watching Lovings lie motionless on the ground. Klein’s then-boyfriend — Velijko “Charles” Vjelica — testified last week that they were en route with Lovings from Chicago to see Lovings’ girlfriend, Aimee Beutke, sing at a Buffalo Grove club.

Instead, they made a stop in Rolling Meadows. That’s where Taylor entered the unlocked apartment and pointed a gun to Klein’s head, she said.

“Get down on the ground everyone, I’m here for Keyz, I’m here for all of it,” Klein told the court, recalling what Taylor shouted that night.

Klein said Taylor demanded the combination to a safe belonging to Lovings’ roommate. Taylor threatened to kill Klein, she said.

“I’m just trying to cooperate the best I can,” Klein said. “I’m lying still and silent on the floor.”

Tuesday’s court proceedings were lengthy with seven witnesses supplying testimony. The prosecution rested, and the defense expects to rest on Wednesday to give jurors time to deliver a verdict starting at lunchtime.

Klein also told the court that Taylor another man — who authorities have yet to locate — took her purse which included her credit cards and other identification. She feared coming forward, concerned Taylor would find her at her Chicago apartment and extract revenge, she said. Instead she stayed at her boyfriend’s family’s home, Klein said.

The defense’s case focused on the possibility police had the wrong man. Assistant Public Defender Christina Yi pointed out that the composite sketch drawn by Arlington Heights police Detective Joe Pinnello didn’t look like Taylor.

Even though Klein said she was 100 percent positive Taylor shot Lovings, she told the court the sketch didn’t match Taylor.

“It doesn’t look like him,” she said.

Taylor walked with a cane, and Rolling Meadows police arrested him on Aug. 6, 2007, about year after Lovings’ death.

Lovings, nicknamed “Keyz,” was a 1995 graduate of Barrington High School and grew up in the St. Louis area. He performed as a rapper in a group called AG Squad |and left behind a daughter.

His family didn’t know about his history dealing drugs, even though Taylor’s defense attorneys confirmed those activities during the trial.

Taylor was involved in many shootings unrelated to Lovings’ case, police said.