Another trial date has come and gone for Aurora murder suspect Quentin Moore amid the latest round of questions as to his capacity to participate in his defense.
Moore, 33, is charged in three killings dating back to 2001 and was scheduled to begin trial Monday in Kane County court on the 2005 beating death of George Caro.
However, his attorney last week pushed to delay the case because of renewed concerns that Moore is not fit to stand trial. Over the last four years, Moore has been found fit to assist in his defense twice through an evaluation and once by a jury. He also was deemed unfit on three occasions, while refusing to participate in at least one evaluation, according to attorney Don Zuelke, who was appointed to represent Moore in 2013.
Zuelke, who noted the jury’s findings are nearly a year-and-a-half old, wrote in a motion for a new evaluation that in his many years as a criminal defense attorney he “has never encountered a client who is as unable to assist his attorney in his defense as is (Moore) in this case.”
Judge Susan Clancy Boles ordered Moore to be evaluated with another fitness hearing to follow.
Moore continues to file his own motions, most recently asking for a new attorney and to have the charges against him dismissed. The handwritten filings suggest, among other things, that the case should be dropped because his name was misspelled on a charging document. In December, Moore claimed he was owed lottery winnings from his pre-teen years and was entitled to money left for him by someone who once worked at Caterpillar, records show.
Zuelke summed up Moore’s overall behavior as “indicative of a person who is seriously paranoid and not fit for trial.” In particular, Zuelke referenced a Feb. 13 hearing where Moore spoke out of turn and was removed from the courtroom.
When Moore did speak to the judge about an unrelated post-conviction case in which he does not currently have an attorney, his comments took Zuelke aback.
“The defendant’s statements in court … were nothing short of bizarre,” Zuelke wrote.
Since his arrest in 2007, Moore has had frequent outbursts in court that at times caused him to be placed in additional restraints for hearings. Moore attacked his then-attorney in 2010 during jury selection for an earlier attempt at a trial in Caro’s murder.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter