To obtain medical records, continuance ordered in Malta man’s trial

OREGON – An Ogle County judge granted a continuance Thursday for a Malta man charged with killing a Mt. Morris woman and her unborn son in November 2020, after his attorney said efforts to get medical records had again failed.

Liam Dixon, a defense attorney for Matthew T. PLote, 35, told Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe that efforts to secure the medical records of Melissa Lamesch, 27, of Mt. Morris from DuPage Medical Group had been unsuccessful again.

Plote is charged with killing Lamesch and her unborn son Nov. 25, 2020, and then setting fire to her house to conceal their deaths.

Lamesch’s baby was due Nov. 27, 2020.

Plote faces four counts of first-degree murder, three of intentional homicide of an unborn child and one each of residential arson, aggravated domestic battery and concealment of a homicidal death.

Thursday’s hearing marked the third time Roe has granted continuances for Plote as his defense team awaits Lamesch’s medical records from before her death.

Dixon said recent efforts to secure the medical records from DuPage Medical Group through subpoenas and more recently – a court order – have been unsuccessful.

“We’ve sent repeated subpoenas to DuPage Medical and now they are saying they need consent by someone in her family,” Dixon told Roe.

In March, Plote’s attorneys asked Roe to reissue another subpoena asking for the records with his signature clearly visible. They also told Roe in a November 2022 hearing that subpoenas asking for the medical records had not been honored.

On Thursday, Dixon asked Roe to hold the medical group in contempt until they provide the records.

“We are asking you to hold them in contempt until they comply,” Dixon said.

Dixon said he would draft a motion for Roe to review.

Assistant State’s Attorney Heather Kruse said her office was still waiting for records from the Mt. Morris Police Department. She said the state had secured records from the eight fire departments that provided mutual aid to the Mt. Morris Fire Protection District on the night of the fire.

Roe set the next hearing for 3:30 p.m. May 4.

Plote has been in custody at the Ogle County Correctional Center since his March 8, 2022, arrest. He appeared in court wearing the standard orange jumpsuit and in handcuffs and leg irons. Several family members sat in one row of the courtroom’s public seating area Lamesch’s family sat two rows behind them.

Lamesch was found about 4:30 p.m. after firefighters responded to 206 S. Hannah Ave. in Mt. Morris, where they encountered heavy smoke and blaring smoke detectors. She was found on the kitchen floor and pronounced dead at the scene, despite lifesaving measures.

She was a 2011 graduate of Oregon High School and an EMT at Trace Ambulance Service in Tinley Park.

Prosecutors have yet to offer a possible motive in the case but have said Lamesch and Plote knew each other before the killings.