Streator attempted murder case: Perkins fired toward drug agent, witness says

Courtney Perkins pointed a semiautomatic pistol to where a buy-bust operation was going on Sept. 29 in Streator. Perkins squeezed off a round – an officer saw him do it – and then the gun jammed.

But was Perkins trying to kill drug agent Bernie Larsen? And was Perkins justified, as his lawyer said, in firing at what might look to a passerby as if a woman were being assaulted or restrained?

A La Salle County jury will need to agree with Perkins’ arguments that the shot was justified and wasn’t meant to be lethal or he could face the equivalent of a life sentence. Perkins, 21, of Streator, is charged with multiple felonies led by attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

On Tuesday, agents of the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team testified in La Salle County Circuit Court that they arranged the purchase of MDMA, better known as Ecstasy, and to meet the seller in a sting operation at a Streator car wash. There, Larsen exchanged $350 for 20 Ecstasy pills brought there by Alaina J. Cravatta of Streator.

After what Larsen testified was a clean exchange of cash for drugs, Larsen said he called out, “Police, you’re under arrest.” Larsen testified that he said it loudly; it was the signal for armed comrades idling in a nearby car and waiting to pounce.

“I needed [the Tri-DENT agents] to hear it so they knew when to move in,” he testified.

Larsen said that he then placed Cravatta under arrest. She resisted. Within seconds, Larsen testified, he heard a gunshot.

“I looked immediately to where the sound of the gunfire came from,” Larsen testified. “I saw a Black male subject standing 10 to 15 yards away pointing a pistol right at me.”

James Mandujano got an even better look.

Mandujano, now Utica’s police chief and no longer with Tri-DENT, said he was in plainclothes conducting surveillance and saw the man, identified as Perkins, point and fire toward Larsen and Cravatta. Neither was struck or injured. The bullet appears to have struck a brick wall and then fragmented on impact.

Mandujano also testified that he saw the semiautomatic pistol’s slide retract but not rebound, indicating that the gun jammed. Perkins paused long enough at the scene to scoop up the fallen money and drugs and then sprinted from the scene, Mandujano said. He was captured a short distance away.

Perkins and his lawyer, Chicago attorney Charles Snowden, do not deny that Perkins fired the gun. They do deny it was attempted murder – a “classic case” of overcharging, Snowden told jurors – and said police left some key details out of their narrative.

“They’re trying to sell you a bill of goods,” Snowden told jurors during opening statements.

Snowden spent much of his cross-examination Tuesday saying that Perkins couldn’t be proved to have heard the critical words, “Police, you’re under arrest.”

“In point of fact, you don’t know where [Perkins] was?” Snowden said to Larsen during cross-examination. “You don’t know how close or how far?”

“That’s correct,” Larsen said.

Snowden said Perkins couldn’t have known Larsen, dressed in plainclothes without a badge, was a police officer – and therefore could have mistaken Cravatta’s resisting arrest for a civilian dispute.

“Would you [as a police officer] think something was amiss?” Snowden said.

“Yeah, I’d have investigated that,” Larsen said.

But under questioning from prosecutor Greg Sticka, Larsen clarified that he would not have discharged his firearm at the sight of Cravatta in a struggle.

“Absolutely not,” Larsen said. He added later, “That’s deadly force. You cannot do that.”

The trial resumes Wednesday, with additional witnesses for the prosecution expected to testify. Charges against Cravatta are pending.