State's attorney launches case against Cusick

OTTAWA — Can an adult accidentally drown in a toilet? Not a chance, La Salle County’s top prosecutor says.

With murder suspect Kenneth Cusick looking on, state’s attorney Karen Donnelly stood before a jury Wednesday and told them not to believe Cusick’s claim that he found wife Tracy dead in their Ottawa home, her face immersed in the water of a downstairs commode.

During opening statements, Donnelly explained that toilets are designed to prevent accidental drowning and there have been no recorded cases of an adult drowning. Human physiology, she said, also precludes it; the moment Tracy lost consciousness her center of gravity would pull her out of the bowl, not deeper into it.

“This case will show that’s not possible,” Donnelly said.

But Cusick and his lawyers are not disputing the physics of plumbing — they dispute the manner of Tracy’s death in 2006. To hear defense attorney Ryan Hamer tell it, pathologists will testify that Tracy died from a lethal overdose of methadone of alcohol.

“Kenny had absolutely nothing to do with this death,” Hamer said, adding later, “The state cannot possibly prove their case.”

If the state can prove it, Cusick would be convicted of first-degree murder and face a mandatory prison sentence of 20-60 years.

The cause of death is by no means the only disputed matter at this still-early stage of the case. (Prosecutors aren’t expected to rest until early next week.)

Wednesday, prosecutors called witnesses who could not fully agree on key details from the crime scene on Jan. 17, 2006. A neighbor and two first-responders all testified they saw Tracy Cusick lying on the floor of a hallway near the kitchen with Cusick kneeling beside her. Cusick, by one account, was seen checking for a pulse and inspecting Tracy’s pupils for signs of life.

But was there water on the floor? Ottawa police Sgt. Darrin Schmitz recalled stepping over a puddle on the hall floor, while then-fire Lt. Tom Ganiere couldn’t recall any water. Ganiere did recall using electric paddles in a failed attempt to restart Tracy’s heart; that, he said, they wouldn’t have attempted in standing water.

And what was Cusick’s demeanor while his wife was whisked to a hospital? Characterizations varied from “nervous — lacked emotion” to “frantic” to “distraught.”

Cusick appears to have raised suspicions — but not fully incriminated himself — in a series of police interviews. In the first, taken six hours after Tracy died, Cusick admitted his marriage was in bad shape (“We coexist”) and they fought over her personal issues. Cusick described a cycle of depression, pills and alcohol, which she tried to hide from him.

“She always fought depression her whole life — her whole life,” he repeated.

Cusick appeared cooperative during the 35-minute interview and left the station on his own, with one of the interviewing officer remarking, “Everything looks somewhat like you explained it.”

But on the witness stand, Ottawa police Sgt. Patrick Hardy had noted Tracy’s autopsy was not at that time completed and there were troubling clues yet to be explained.

One such finding was the volume of water remaining in the downstairs toilet from which Tracy had been pulled. Hardy used a ruler to measure the water and, after photographing the commode, flushed it and then re-measured. The water level stood 1½ inches higher than when Tracy was pulled from the bowl.

Jurors will have to sift through evidentiary disputes but the trial judge has additional concerns. Opening statements were delayed roughly one hour Wednesday after closed-door conferences. Judge Cynthia M. Raccuglia then announced two jurors were questioned and one of them discharged — two alternates remain — while a spectator (later found to be under a no-contact order) was asked to leave.

The judge warned the crowded spectator gallery that no disruptions would be tolerated and that any outbursts would result in a finding of contempt of court.

The case resumes at 9 a.m. today. Up next is an expert in plumbing expected to testify Tracy could not have drowned on her own.

Tom Collins can be reached at (815) 220-6930 or TCollins@shawmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_Court.