Details revealed in request for new Lanark murder trial

MOUNT CARROLL – Jury contamination, a probation officer’s testimony, and other elements are part of a defense motion to reverse the guilty verdict in a Freeport man’s murder trial.

Morgan D. Hake, 50, was found guilty Sept. 23 in Carroll County Court of first-degree murder in the Dec. 5 slaying of his wife, Suzanne Hake.

Hake’s Moline-based attorneys, Daniel P. Dalton and Nate Nieman, filed a judgment notwithstanding the verdict Oct. 5. The motion asks that a judge reverse the jury’s verdict when the judge believes there was no factual basis for the verdict, or the verdict was contrary to law. An alternative motion would be for a new trial.

The defense cited five reasons to consider in the motion:

• Spectators’ pre-trial statements contaminated the panel of prospective jurors and infringed on Hake’s right to a fair trial. The attorneys said some panel members heard statements about the case made by spectators sitting in the gallery before the trial began.

• Justina Kidd, Hake’s probation officer from Stephenson County, should not have been allowed to testify on issues concerning Hake’s marriage. Dalton and Nieman said the difficulties were irrelevant, far back in time, and Hake was surprised by the information.

• Autopsy photos should not have been sent back with the jury for deliberations.

• The state failed to prove the elements of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

Hake argued self-defense at the trial, and, Dalton and Nieman said “the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not acting in self defense when Suzanne Hake died.”

• Even if the state proved the elements of the offense of first-degree murder, Hake met his burden of proof for second-degree murder.

Instructions to the jury before deliberation read, “If the state proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder, the defendant then has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that a mitigating factor is present so that he is guilty of the lesser offense of second-degree murder, and not guilty of first-degree murder. In deciding whether a mitigating factor is present, you should consider all of the evidence bearing on this question.”

Hake’s attorneys claim that he did prove that he thought that circumstances justified the use of deadly force, and the jury should have returned a verdict on second-degree murder where Hake adequately proved “imperfect self-defense.”

Scott Brinkmeier, Carroll County state’s attorney, recently said the motion will be taken up Nov. 4, at Hake’s sentencing. If the motion is denied, sentencing will proceed.