Judge locks courtroom after threat in Wilks murder trial

By TESA CULLI tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Lashawn Wilks is expected to testify this morning as the last witness in his own defense of first-degree murder.

But what was going on in the gallery of the courtroom took center stage shortly after the state rested its case and the jury had left the courtroom, when Judge Terry Gamber ordered that no one enter or leave the courtroom due to a threatening text message being received by a witness and allegedly originating in the courtroom.

Gamber and attorneys spoke for a few minutes while baliffs were instructed to stand at all doors to the courtroom. Gamber then asked the court if anyone knew a Nina Campbell or was related to her. He told the audience about a threatening text being sent by Campbell, showed a picture of the woman who was on a cell phone, and asked for help in identifying her — but no one responded.

“I will clear the courtroom, and allow no one in the room for these proceedings,” Gamber said. “I guarantee no one will be allowed to threaten a witness in my courtroom.”

Gamber said he was disgusted by whoever “had the nerve” to threaten a witness and those who didn’t have the nerve to step forward to identify who had sent the threat.

Gamber also admonished those in the audience, saying he would remove any who could not pay respect to the proceedings. Throughout the trial, audience members have gone in and out of the courtroom at will during testimony, laughed and made comments as witnesses spoke from the stand.

“This is not a laughing matter, this is a serious matter,” Gamber said. “Whenever there is someone in my courtroom whose life is on the line, it’s a very serious matter. ... I want to see nothing but respect for the state and defense in this case.”

During the second day of testimony in the trial, witnesses claimed that victim Carlton Holmes had a gun on Jan. 2, the night he was fatally shot by Wilks.

Wilks, 21, faces three counts of first-degree murder after the shooting death of Holmes in the parking lot of Nu Bowl Lanes. His attorneys claim Wilks acted in self-defense, fearing for his life after Holmes threatened him the previous night at a party and the night of the shooting at the bowling alley.

Special Prosecutor David Rands finished his case in chief, calling on the emergency room doctor who was working the night Holmes was brought in; Curtis Devan, who was in the vehicle sitting next to Wilks when Holmes was shot; Nu Bowl Lanes employee Jeremy Wagner and former employee Robert Huntman; Illinois State Police experts on gunshot residue and firearm analysis; and Champagne Turner, who was in the parking lot and drove Wilks to 17th Street after the shooting Jan. 2; as well as detectives who gathered evidence in the case.

St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital emergency room Dr. Thurmond Phemister testified he was working on another case when Holmes was carried into the emergency room.

“Four men were carrying him and his head was down,” Phemister testified. “... He had no pulse, no spontaneous respiration, and no heartbeat.”

Phemister said he called the Code Blue and while treatment began, he saw the bullet wound in Holmes’ left bicep and then saw the wound in his chest. He inserted a chest tube, and “blood was pouring out,” indicating blood in the lungs. Phemister and the cardio surgeon at the hospital then discovered blood in both lungs, and the left ventricle, which “was shredded.” Holmes never achieved a pulse during treatment at the hospital.

“There was nothing to be done,” Phemister said. “We called the code.”

The autopsy revealed the bullet had entered Holmes’ chest on the left side, damaging both lungs, the liver, aorta and vena cava and lodged in skeletal and muscle tissue on his right side. Holmes tested negative for drugs, and had a blood alcohol content of .085 percent.

According to weapon and residue experts from the ISP, Holmes also had concentrations of gunshot residue on his hands, and testified that finding consistent with someone who had been in close proximity to the firing of a gun. Holmes’ jacket he was wearing at the time of the shooting also tested positive for gunshot residue.

The first testimony, which indicated Holmes had a gun when he opened the door to the Ford Expedition in which Wilks was a passenger, was in the afternoon, when the defense put Chris Wyatt on the stand. Wyatt testified he was in the parking lot one space away from the Expedition on Wilks’ side of the vehicle when Holmes came up and opened the door. Wilks said he didn’t know Holmes, and his only acquaintance with Wilks was they attended Mt. Vernon Township High School at the same time.

Wyatt testified he saw the group get into the Expedition, who have been identified as driver Keith Desmond; front seat passenger Cortez Pickett; Wilks, who was in the back behind Desmond; Curtis Devan who was in the back seat next to Wilks; and Keith Rawlings, who was in the back seat next to the passenger door.

About 10 minutes later, Wyatt said a car pulled behind the Expedition and another in front of it, blocking the vehicle in the parking space. Wyatt said someone in the car behind the Expedition got out and went to the driver’s side, opened the back door and he heard gunshots fired.

“The inside of the cab lit up,” Wyatt said. “It looked like he reached in and fired.”

The second witness to testify that Holmes also had a gun was Eggleston, who said when the door behind him opened, he saw Holmes with a gun in his right hand near his waist.

“By the time he opened the door and said, ‘get you all ass out,’ I was out of there,” Holmes testified. “I got out before he even said the last word. ... Everybody scattered. I wasn’t worried about no one else, I was just scared.”

Closing arguments are expected to be heard after Wilks’ testimony this morning, followed by jury instructions and deliberations.

Text Only