For 20 minutes, St. Clair County Circuit Judge Milton Wharton heard arguments then contemplated whether there was enough evidence to send the first-degree murder case against Aaron "Chill" Jackson to the jury.
The state rested its case on Thursday afternoon after four prosecution witnesses stated they found no physical evidence that put Jackson inside Washington Park Mayor John Thornton's 1998 Buick Regal on April 1, 2010 -- the day Thornton was found inside his crashed car with three gunshot wounds to his chest.
After the state rested, Thomas Q. Keefe III, Jackson's attorney, moved for a directed verdict, a routine defense move. For the judge to order a directed verdict, he must find that no reasonable jury could return any verdict but acquittal.
"I want to hear something besides your standard arguments," Wharton told the state.
St. Clair County Assistant State's Attorney Steve Sallerson argued the testimony should be seen "in the light most favorable to the state." He also argued circumstantial evidence -- such as gunshot residue found on Jackson's left hand and on his clothes -- and testimony from two eyewitnesses who said, at first, that they saw Jackson get out of the Thornton's car after it crashed into a tree was enough for the jury to consider whether Jackson, 36, was guilty.
But Keefe countered that one eyewitness, Nortisha Ball, recanted on the stand while Gilda Lott, the other eyewitness, first said that it was Jackson, then that it wasn't, then that she couldn't remember. The forensic evidence failed to put Jackson inside the car. None of Jackson's hair was found in the car. No fibers from his clothes were found in the car. No airbag residue was recovered from Jackson's clothes.
Wharton listened to the arguments, then read the statutes, paused and wrote.
Thornton's daughter, Katina Morrow, and first witness called in the prosecution's case, sat in the gallery, bouncing her knee.
Jackson's family and friends sat behind the defense table.
State's Attorney Brendan Kelly also waited to hear whether Sallerson and Assistant State's Attorney Bernadette Schrempp would make their closing arguments to the jury on Friday.
Wharton decided that while the evidence may not be conclusive, but there was enough for the jury to deliberate.
"The motion for directed verdict is denied," Wharton said.
Forensic scientists took the stand on Thursday.
DNA analyst Jay Winters testified in the first trial in October, which ended in a mistrial, that 1-in-4,200 people in the black population and 1-in-8,400 in the white population could have left the DNA found on Jackson's pants.
Using a new calculator, Winters testified on Thursday that the DNA found on Jackson's pants was 1-in-46,000 people in the black population and 1-in-73,000 people in the white population could have left the DNA on Jackson's pants.
Fingerprint expert Melissa Gamboe testified on Thursday that she discovered one fingerprint on the outside of the car that matched Jackson's.
Keefe asked both Gamboe and Winters whether they compared the evidence to former Washington Park Police Detective Kim McAfee, who is serving time in federal prison on the charges he lied to federal investigators and underpaid workers at his security firm KLM.
McAfee's samples were not submitted.
Jackson's trial in October ended in a mistrial after allegations that McAfee offered money to a witness in exchange for her telling investigators that McAfee was not at the scene of Thornton's murder. That witness, LeQuisha Jackson, who was not related to the defendant, did not testify this week.
Instead, Gilda Lott testified. She stated that she saw Aaron Jackson get out of the driver's side of the car -- where Thornton's body was discovered. Lott did not talk to the police about what she saw until nearly two years after the incident. She also testified that she had pending felonies. She told the jury after answering several times that she couldn't remember that she had memory problems because she had been hit on the head with a baseball bat.
Ball testified that McAfee first raised Aaron Jackson's name.
"He said that he already knew that it was Aaron," Ball said.
She denied that she saw Jackson get out of Thornton's car after the shooting as she testified to in Jackson's first trial. She admitted that she lied under oath. She further testified that she was "forced" to pick Aaron Jackson out of a line-up when she was called into to Illinois State Police headquarters six days after the shooting.
Police theorized that Thornton, 52, was on his way home from his job at the Metro-East Sanitary District when Aaron Jackson flagged him down to ask for money. Thornton had known Jackson for most of his life, witnesses have said.
Thornton was found in the driver's seat of his Buick Regal after it crashed into a tree about 5:45 a.m. on April 1, 2010, in the 4700 block of Caseyville Avenue. Thornton died from three gunshot wounds to the chest, according to the autopsy.
Jurors will hear closing arguments on Friday morning, then will begin their deliberations.
Contact reporter Beth Hundsdorfer at bhundsdorfer@bnd.com or 239-2570.
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