Chapter 54
Judge Lambert looked at the prosecution’s table and said, “Mr. DaSilva, you may call your first witness.”
“Your Honor, at this time the State will call Police Captain Brady O’Keefe, who supervised the police officers and detectives involved.”
Captain O’Keefe walked before the court and was sworn in and seated in the witness box.
“Captain O’Keefe, state and spell your name and position and years of experience for the records.”
O’Keefe responded with the spelling of his name, his title as police captain, and that he’d been with the Chicago Police Department for twenty-four years.
DaSilva paced slowly in front of his desk, taking his time. “Captain O’Keefe, am I correct that the police chief has assigned you the role of training, retention, and discipline of police officers within the department?”
“That is correct.”
“As it relates to the incident involving Hollis Montrose, you would have headed up the investigation into the matter for the department?”
“That is correct. But our internal investigation is separate from Internal Affairs and the State Police Commission.”
“Thank you for explaining that, Captain O’Keefe. And is it correct that all of your investigations arrived at the same conclusion?”
Alvarez leaned over to Beau Lee and whispered, “We should object.” Beau Lee shook his head.
“We more or less all arrived at the same conclusion.”
“It would be inappropriate for you to talk about their conclusion. I want you to focus specifically on your conclusion.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. DaSilva,” answered O’Keefe.
“I want to first call your attention to the evidence collected at the scene of the shooting.” DaSilva asked a few quick questions that were all easy affirmatives for O’Keefe—whether they impounded Hollis’s SUV that night, preserved the evidence in the normal chain of custody, preserved the license plate.
“I want to show you what has been pre-marked as State exhibit number one. Please identify it and explain to the court that this is how this evidence was collected at the scene of the incident,” DaSilva said, then asked for the exhibit from the clerk, who handed him the license plate, which had been sealed in a plastic bag.
“Thank you,” he said. He removed the bent metal plate from the bag.
“Captain O’Keefe, is this the license plate that was taken from Hollis Montrose’s vehicle and the condition in which it was on the night in question?”
“Yes, this is the license plate, and the condition it was in.”
“And as you sit here in this courtroom today, can you tell the jury whether you arrived at any conclusions based on the condition of this license plate, and what those conclusions were?”
“First, we concluded that because of how the plate had been damaged, it would make it difficult for an officer to correctly identify what the letters and numbers on the plate were,” he said, pointing at the damage.
“You can see how the bent areas make it unreadable. Therefore, we concluded that the arresting officers would not have been able to accurately relay the plate over the radio and that no information would’ve been provided by dispatch, such as the registered owner. ”
“Thank you, Captain O’Keefe,” DaSilva said. He had an easygoing demeanor that the jurors seemed to favor. “During the gunshot residue exam, were Mr. Montrose’s hands properly secured in plastic to allow for the responding officers to perform the examination?”
“Yes, it is indicated in the gunshot residue report.”
“And what did that report conclude?”
“Due to the residue on his hands, the state crime lab concluded that Hollis Montrose had fired his weapon.”
“I want to call your attention to the third piece of evidence that I believe you reviewed in your investigation. Did the responding officers recover the casings from the discharged weapons?”
“Yes, we did. According to our report,” explained Captain O’Keefe, “there were ten casings located on the scene. The casings recovered matched Jack Dunham’s weapon. The same was the case for Chaz Rossi, Leonard Johnson, and Rory Caruthers.”
“Thank you, Captain O’Keefe. Based on your objective findings, and the officers’ incident reports, did your department arrive at a conclusion regarding the incident involving Mr. Hollis Montrose?”
“Yes, we did. We determined that based on the officers’ testimonies, which corroborated the evidence collected at the scene, it was justifiable and appropriate use of force that adhered to department training, policies, and the laws of the State of Illinois.”
“Thank you, Captain O’Keefe, for the in-depth analysis of your investigation. I have no further questions at this time, Your Honor. I will pass the witness.”