Crime & Safety
Attorneys Bid to Keep Taped Statement Out of Murder Case
Attorneys for a Chicago man charged with a New Lenox Township murder contend he was questioned after he asked for a lawyer, and that he gave a statement to police without a lawyer present.
By Joseph Hosey
Detectives should have cut short their questioning of a Chicago man charged with a New Lenox Township murder, his attorneys said during a Friday morning hearing in Will County court.
But the detectives did stop questioning 25-year-old Rodney Julun, contends prosecutor Chris Regis, and Julun was the one who kept asking them questions.
Julun's attorneys, Timothy Specht and Amy Christiansen, are trying to convince Will County Judge Daniel Rozak to bar a statement Julun made to sheriff's detectives. Regis said Julun never actually asked for an attorney.
Julun told detectives, "Can I talk to a lawyer. I need to talk to a lawyer," Regis said.
"That's not saying, 'I want to talk to a lawyer. Stop talking to me," Regis said.
But even if Julun had asked for a lawyer, he said, the detetives stopped questioning him. But Julun continued peppering the cops with questions, Regis said.
"The defendant is the one interrogating them in this case," he said.
Specht countered that it was clear that Julun wanted a lawyer and that a detective made a statement to encourage him to talk.
Judge Rozak said he will view a video of the exchange between Julun and the detectives before making a decision later this month.
Julun allegedly beat 59-year-old Dwight Jones to death in June 2011. Jones and Julun met on Chicago's South Side, police said, and Jones invited him back to his home for a drink.
After they got to Jones' place, Julun bludgeoned him to death with a lamp, police said.
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After killing Jones, Julun allegedly returned to the dead man's New Lenox Township house with two associates from Chicago. The three men proceeded to loot the place over the next couple days, police said. Jones lay dead while his house was cleaned out.
The other two men linked to Julun's crimes—John White, 22, and David Reed, 25—pleaded guilty in February to burglary. White was sentenced to six years in prison and Reed got four.
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Prosecutors plan to call White and Reed to testify against Julun.
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