Mother of 2019 shooting victims testifies in Joliet murder trial

A Joliet murder trial became heated on Thursday during a defense attorney’s confrontational cross examination of the mother of two victims in a 2019 shooting that resulted in one of them dying.

Prosecutors called Deborah Taylor, mother of slain man Quentin Woods, 38, to the witness stand on Thursday to testify about her own encounter with defendant, Matthew Rutledge 41, on the morning of Dec. 20, 2019.

Later that day, both Woods and Taylor’s daughter, Tiffany Williams, 38, were shot.

Rutledge is on trial on charges alleging he murdered Woods and attempted to murder Williams by shooting both of them about a block away from the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet.

During an intense cross examination on Thursday, Rutledge’s attorney, Chuck Bretz, repeatedly asked Taylor about differences in her court testimony and the statements she gave to police about what happened between her, Williams and Rutledge on the morning before the shooting.

Taylor had testified when she was in Joliet, Williams came to visit her in a vehicle driven by Rutledge and she didn’t know him. She said she noticed her daughter appeared high on drugs and she was struggling to get out of Rutledge’s vehicle.

“She didn’t get out the right way. I knew something was wrong,” Taylor said.

Taylor said she told Rutledge she was taking her daughter and tried to grab Williams away from Rutledge, who tried grabbing her back and then made a threatening statement toward her.

“There’s no need to be belligerent to this witness.”

—   Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Fleszewski

Bretz asked Taylor if she gave a statement where she apparently said Rutledge asked her if she was trying to rob her daughter during that incident. After Bretz became frustrated he wasn’t receiving answers in the form of a “yes” or “no” from Taylor, he yelled out, “I didn’t ask you why.”

At that point, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Fleszewski objected, saying, “There’s no need to be belligerent to this witness.”

Bretz told Judge Carmen Goodman he would tone it down. He continued to asking Taylor about why she didn’t think Rutledge, who didn’t know her either, wouldn’t himself have questions about her actions toward her daughter.

“I was protecting my daughter because she was high,” Taylor said, who later testified she was not trying to steal from her daughter.

According to Taylor’s testimony, Williams had some money from a large civil settlement that apparently went missing and she was trying to see if it was in Rutledge’s vehicle. She said Rutledge wouldn’t let her look at first but then allowed it. Woods became involved in the incident after Taylor contacted him about it and Woods in turn contacted Rutledge, she said.