Officer's gun was ready to fire, detective testifies

The pistol Carl Sain had with him during his fight with Waukegan Police Chief Artis Yancey was loaded and "ready to be fired at any time," a detective testified Wednesday.

Sain, who was off-duty from his job as a North Chicago police officer when he discovered Yancey in a house with the woman who was in the process of divorcing Sain, is on trial for aggravated battery before Lake County Circuit Judge Fred Foreman and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Waukegan detective Cesar Garcia said he was one of the officers who took Sain into custody around 11:30 p.m. on June 17.

Garcia said he took a Glock .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun from Sain's waistband in the garage outside Cheryl Sain's house in Waukegan.

Garcia said he removed the magazine from the weapon and pulled back the bolt slide to check the gun's firing chamber.

"A bullet popped out of the chamber as soon as I pulled back the slide," Garcia said. "It was ready to be fired at any time."

Garcia said he also noticed there was blood on the weapon, blood that Assistant State's Attorney Reginald Matthews said was later matched to Sain.

In his opening statement, Matthews said Sain cut himself when he broke a window next to the door of Cheryl Sain's house in order to get inside.

Matthews said that Sain's blood wound up on the weapon because Sain had the weapon in his hand when he attacked Yancey.

But defense attorney Charvis Walker said in his opening statement that the weapon was in his client's waistband during the fight with Yancey.

Testimony is expected to continue today.