The dispute over cold, hard ‘facts’

DIXON – Any attorney will tell you, when you’re dealing with the murder of a drug dealer, by a drug dealer, your witnesses aren’t likely to be stalwart citizens. When that murder is 30 years cold, the evidence, the forensics, the memories – they all get called into question, too.

Such is the case in the death of Gary Dawson, who was 30 when he was bound with duct tape and beaten to death in Peoria, his broken and bloody body dropped in a filthy hog pen 100 miles away.

He was killed, prosecutors and witnesses say, by two thugs and the dealer who hired them. The motive: The dealer’s brother owed Dawson a drug debt of more than $90,000, and Dawson thought the dealer should pay his brother’s bill.

The twist: The accused brother hit men are facing life, while the dealer, who may have done some of the fatal beating himself, is looking at probation only – his reward for ratting them out.

That’s the drama unfolding in an investigation more than 3 decades running, in complicated court documents filed in a case so cold the victim now has been dead longer than he was alive.

Three men – Dawson’s rival drug dealer, Steven Watts, and brothers Gordon “Kent” and Terry Bobell – are charged with murdering Dawson more than 33 years ago, on Aug. 28, 1983.

The sordid tale is rooted in the Peoria drug scene, but is taking the time and resources of the Lee County justice system, thanks to the discovery of Dawson’s body on a pig farm in Franklin Grove.

Terry, 69, and 66-year-old Kent are charged with five counts of first-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison. Both men now live in Chillicothe. Steven Watts, 59, now of Berryville, Arkansas – whose brother, Bill Watts, racked up the $90,000 debt that Dawson thought Steve should pay (and who reportedly was having an affair with Dawson’s wife) – is charged with one count.

All three are free on bond.

Terry Bobell is the first of the three set to be tried, but his Aug. 22 date has been postponed indefinitely by the usual flurry of motions – arguments and counter-arguments seeking to exclude, or include, evidence, statements, prior testimony, and the like – including a defense motion to dismiss the murder indictment entirely, based on what Bobell's attorney says was false grand jury testimony on the part of the detectives.

All are awaiting Judge Ronald Jacobson's decision on their merits. As always, depending on their outcome, charges against him could be dismissed or reduced.

The next hearing is Dec. 6.

What's contained in the roughly 100 or so pages filed so far is the state's story of what happened that night – based largely on what will be Watts' testimony – and the defense's assertion that Watts, "a convicted liar" and "without a doubt the prime suspect" in Dawson's murder, will be motivated to lie on the stand to preserve his sweetheart deal and avoid life in prison.

But the charges against Terry Bobell are based on a tainted identification, evidence the jury should not be allowed to hear, says his attorney, Paul Whitcombe of Dixon. In fact, Watts is lying about Terry's involvement, using information spoon-fed to him by investigators "desperate" to end this case, Whitcombe wrote in one motion.

"... there is absolutely no physical evidence that places Terry Bobell at the scene of the alleged kidnapping, the alleged beating, or the dumping of Dawson's body. There will be no physical evidence that Terry Bobell ever met Gary Dawson or was ever in his presence. "In fact, the only evidence that places Terry Bobell at the scene of these incidents is the testimony of Steven Watts, which ... was purchased with a promise of probation for a first-degree murder charge."

Whitcombe, himself a former Lee County state's attorney, also accuses prosecutors of filing motions full of hearsay information they know won't be allowed in court, simply to get information to the media and out in the public, to pollute the jury pool.

It's a made-for-TV movie in the making.

The state v. Terry Bobell

According to the prosecution – State's Attorney Anna Sacco-Miller, and State's Attorney-elect Matt Klahn – Watts and others will testify:

That he and the Bobells – who had worked security for Watts when he was running large amounts of marijuana to Peoria – kidnapped Dawson from his mother's home that night, where he was last seen working on his motorcycle in the garage.

As Watts drove his Chevy Malibu to Kent's home in Chillicothe, the brothers sat in the back, beating Dawson. Watts also told at least one person that he participated, pummeling Dawson with the butt of a .357 Magnum.

When they got to Kent's home, Watts said, the brothers duct-taped Dawson's hands, legs and mouth, and stuffed him in the trunk.

Leaving the Bobells in Chillicothe, Watts drove alone to a mobile home in Rock Falls where Randy Wilson lived, opened the trunk and found Dawson dead.

It was Wilson's idea to take the body to the hog farm, which was owned by a man he knew. Once there, Watts undressed Dawson and removed the tape before the two carried his body over the fence and into a swine shelter.

Dawson, whose body still was bleeding when it was found the next day, died of blunt-force trauma to the head and suffocation, and was beaten by more than one person, his autopsy showed.

Also discovered was a roll of duct tape with a bloody thumbprint later identified as Kent Bobell's, and material "consistent with a blood-like substance containing the DNA of Gary Dawson."

Kent Bobell was charged with Dawson's murder in September 1983, but charges were dropped without explanation the following July.

Witnesses will testify that Terry fled to Florida when he learned of his brother's arrest – an act that could show consciousness of guilt. He was not arrested at the time, but the state cites that flight as part of a trove of circumstantial evidence from which his guilt can be reasonably inferred.

Watts, too, was arrested about a month after Dawson's death. He was charged with obstruction of justice, and in January 1987 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 and a half years' probation.

The prosecution acknowledges that Watts was offered "leniency for his truthful cooperation and testimony," and that he will be "testifying as an accomplice who has a motive to fabricate."

But the testimony of other witnesses – including Michael Raher and Tim Tattersall, who will testify to things they say Watts' told them about the crime – and evidence both direct and circumstantial, will bear him out, the state says, and will underscore Terry Bobell's accountability in Dawson's death.

The motions, at a glance

As of Friday, the state had filed six motions, three of which have seen responses and counter responses, three to which the defense has not yet responded.

The defense has filed three, to which the state has not yet responded.

Foremost among them is Whitcombe's motion to dismiss the indictment of Terry Bobell, on the basis that deceptive or inaccurate information was presented to the grand jury. He bases it on his assertions that detectives fed Bobell's identification to Watts, using suggestive interrogation tactics, and that they fudged Watt's ability to ID Bobell from a 1980s-era photo.

Essentially, he accuses a detective of lying on the stand.

If the identification was in fact illegally obtained, there is no other evidence linking Terry Bobell to the murder, and so charges must be dismissed, Whitcombe argues.

The state has yet to respond to this motion, filed Sept. 29, a separate article is planned once it does.

Among the others:

• The defense wants Watts' "severely tainted" identification of Terry Bobell as the third man involved in Dawson's death kicked.

According to Whitcombe, it's the only thing linking Terry to the crime, and should not be allowed because, until Watts was arrested for the murder in Arkansas in February 2013, he disavowed any knowledge of Terry Bobell – he didn't know him, couldn't name him, said hadn't seen the other man in the back seat that night.

After a 2-day drive back to Illinois with two detectives, and upon the promise of probation for his role in the murder, he mysteriously identified him as the third man, Whitcombe wrote.

He also noted that those two "seasoned detectives" never showed Watts a standard photo lineup at the time because "... should Watts not have been able to identify Terry Bobell, their case would have fallen apart." Instead, they later interviewed him in a room with photos of Terry Bobell pinned to a board.

The state has yet to respond to that motion, which was filed July 15.

• The state wants Kent Bobell's thumbprint on the duct tape admitted as evidence in Terry Bobell's trial. It's "the strongest evidence that corroborates Steve Watts and what he told detectives in 2013," Klahn wrote.

"There's no denying that Steve Watt's testimony will be subject to great attack by the defense," he wrote. Watts and others will testify that the Bobells were with him that afternoon at a bar, and allowing the thumbprint will corroborate that testimony.

It will be up to the judge considering the motion, or the jury, should his testimony be allowed, to decide if Watts' is credible, he wrote.

Terry is a victim of "guilt by association" with his brother, Whitcombe countered, and the thumbprint is not relevant. Because the three were seen together in the afternoon doesn't mean they were together all night, and even if the judge finds the print relevant, it's too prejudicial to be allowed, he argued.

• The state is asking the court to allow Tattersall and Raher to testify about what Watts told them about the circumstances surrounding Dawson's death, which prosecutors say will rebut "the charge or inference that Steve Watts is motivated to testify falsely."

At issue in part is whether statements made by the men, including Watts, have been consistent over the years, and whether they support Watts' ultimate version of events, as the prosecution maintains.

According to the state, in 1986, Tattersall told police about the Watts/Dawson feud over the drug debt, that Watts had told him he was going to "contract" two people to have Dawson "taken care of," that he asked Tattersall if he knew someone who would do it, then later said "he had gotten a man named Bobell and his brother to do it."

In a subsequent interview in 2011, Tattersall told police Watts knew both brothers because they worked as security for him when he brought large amounts of marijuana to Peoria. Among other things, Raher will testify to the feud.

Whitcombe wants their testimony excluded because of what he said are multiple inconsistent statements the men gave investigators, then and now, and because Watts himself denied at one point ever telling the two men anything about the incident.

Prosecutors are asking the judge to hold off on this ruling until after Watts testifies.

• The state is arguing that Watts' statements to Tattersall, Raher and Wilson were made in furtherance of a conspiracy, which makes them co-conspirators, and hearsay by co-conspirators can be testified to by anyone, including officers, informants or those cooperating with the prosecution.

The defense has not yet responded to the motion, filed July 18.

• Prosecutors also are asking the judge to allow the admission of statements Terry Bobell made to his wife, Becky, while he was in custody. Because he talked to her on a jail phone, he had no expectation of privacy, and no spousal privilege, they said.

What's in those statements was not revealed in the motion, and the defense has not yet responded. It was filed July 20.

• The state also is asking the court to allow testimony from current and former detectives as to the methods and processes used to investigate the case, including conversations with others, such as victims or witnesses, which will show what led to Terry Bobell, and that his name "was not taken out of a hat."

The defense is concerned that such testimony might include hearsay that could prejudice the jury. Whitcombe noted that in such cases, a hearing should be held with the judge, out of earshot of the jury, but the state's motion is "premature" and too vague to determine at this point if such a hearing will be needed.

WHAT’S NEXT

As of Friday, no new motions or repsonses from either side had been filed in Terry Bobell's case since Sept. 26. There's still plenty of time, though.

The next hearing is Dec. 6, at which time some, if not all, of the motions are set to be heard.

Depending on how much more is filed by either or both sides, and how much material Judge Ron Jacobson has to consider, that date could change.

A new trial date has not yet been set.

ABOUT TERRY BOBELL

According to his Facebook page, Terry Bobell lives in Chillicothe with his wife, Becky. He is from Mossville.

He attended Chillicothe Township High School and Bradley University, and is a former staff sergeant with the Marine Corps.

He was an air tracffic controller, a drywall and plaster finisher, a research laborer for Caterpillar Inc., and a bartender.

He also was the financial secretary/treasurer and financial secretary for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 649 in Peoria.