Wiretap Evidence OKd In Murder Of Ex-Bear's Girlfriend
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS/STMW) -- A Lake County judge has ruled that prosecutors may play two wiretap recordings in which Marni Yang allegedly admits killing the pregnant girlfriend of ex-Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle when Yang goes on trial for murder next month.
The statements are the heart of the prosecution's case against Yang in the 2007 shooting death of Rhoni Reuter.
But defense attorneys filed a last-minute motion questioning Gayle's actions immediately after he learned of the shooting, which they said included continuing for 10 minutes with the haircut he had been receiving. Gayle--who knew Yang, but has denied having a sexual relationship with her--then called at least one friend for advice on how to deal with the attack before contacting police, Yang's attorneys contended in their filing.
"Gayle's reaction to the first news of the shooting was bizarre and highly suspicious," attorneys William Hedrick and Jeffrey Learner wrote in their motion.
They also contended Gayle was unhappy Reuter was pregnant, intended to have tests done to determine if he was the infant's father and indicated he wouldn't alter his "womanizing life-style" because of her pregnancy. Reuter was seven months pregnant when she was slain in her Deerfield home on Oct. 4, 2007.
Outside the courtroom, Yang's attorneys would say little about the allegations, which Judge Christopher Stride has yet to decide if jurors will hear.
Prosecutors said the allegations aren't relevant and dismissed as "ridiculous" any suggestion that Gayle could have played a role in Reuter's death.
"If the defense is going to make any arguments that Shaun Gayle was involved in the murder, it's absolutely not true and ridiculous," prosecutor Ari Fisz said.
Yang's attorneys also raised a last-ditch effort to bar the recorded conversations, arguing that the Lake County judge who approved the 2009 eavesdropping lacked the authority to do so because the actual recordings were made in Cook County.
During meetings in March 2009 at a Denny's Restaurant in Arlington Heights, Yang allegedly confided to a friend that she committed the killing because she was jealous of Reuter's relationship with Gayle, police and prosecutors have said. Her friend, Christi Paschen, secretly wore a recording device that captured her conversations with Yang, authorities said.
Stride agreed to rule on the jurisdictional issue and the allegations involving Gayle before Yang's trial begins March 1.
Defense attorneys also sought permission to have a stylist trim Yang's long, graying hair before her trial, arguing the 43-year-old Yang's appearance "has declined since she's been in jail."
"We think it would be prejudicial if she appears as she does presently," Hedrick said of Yang, who appeared in court wearing orange jail fatigues.
Stride declined to order a stylist be admitted to the Lake County Jail to do Yang's hair, but did agree to allow her to wear a different array of street clothes during the trial.
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