Trial date set in 2007 killing of Round Lake Park woman during a robbery

The trial for a man accused of killing a Round Lake Park woman during a robbery at a Waukegan check cashing store in 2007 is expected to occur in September.

However, before the trial begins, attorneys will spend three days arguing over the introduction of evidence against Montago Suggs, 29, of Kenosha, Wis. The arguments to suppress evidence against Suggs are expected to take place between July 15 and July 17 in front of Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes.

Shanes set Sept. 23 as the trial date. Attorneys for both sides said the trial will take more than a week, but less than two weeks.

A gun dropped outside the scene of a botched Beach Park robbery provided crucial evidence in the murder five days earlier of Melinda Morrell, 23, of Round Lake Park, authorities have said.

According to authorities, Suggs walked into Ma and Pa’s Corner Store on May 26, 2007, ordered employees to lay on the floor, grabbed money from the register, then pulled the trigger on the pistol when it was aimed at a store clerks head.

However, the gun didn’t fire, and clerks went after him, forcing him to drop the cash and flee the store in a panic, authorities said.

Outside, Suggs slipped on wet pavement — causing him to drop the gun — before scrambling back to his 1994 Lincoln Town Car and flee Waukegan, authorities said.

A sheriff’s deputy tracked and caught Suggs just as he crossed the border into Wisconsin, authorities said.

The gun was later traced to Morrell’s murder. She was shot in the back of the head during a robbery at the Check N’ Go in the 1100 block of North Green Bay Road in Waukegan on May 21, 2007.

Suggs, a three-time convicted car thief, is eligible for life in prison if found guilty of killing Morrell. He is being held without bond in Lake County jail.