A Lake County jury late Wednesday found a Zion man not guilty on attempted murder and aggravated battery charges from a 2014 stabbing.
The decision came after the jury deliberated for about an hour and followed heated courtroom exchanges earlier in the day between the victim and a defense attorney, which escalated into a judge’s decision to temporarily recess.
After testifying that Surgene Cabell Jr., 26, had stabbed him twice at the end of an argument in Zion last fall, Michael Lindsey was in the midst of a lengthy cross-examination by Thomas Meyers, one of Cabell’s defense attorneys, when Meyers said to Lindsey, “You are a criminal.”
The remark was a reference to prior convictions on Lindsey’s record, Meyers said later during a break in the trial.
“What? You calling me a criminal,” Lindsey responded in a raised voice while beginning to rise from the witness seat.
That’s when Judge Mark Levitt, voice also raised, told Lindsey to sit down, recessed the jury and instructed Lindsey that he must quietly answer questions, not talk back or yell and remain seated while being interviewed.
Levitt then gave Lindsey a few moments to calm down before the jury was called back. Finishing his cross examination, Meyers questioned Lindsey about being on misdemeanor probation at the time that Lindsey said he and Cabell smoked marijuana prior to the Sept. 14, 2014, incident.
Levitt then asked Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Newman if he had any further questions for Lindsey.
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“None whatsoever after that,” Newman responded.
Earlier Wednesday, Newman had asked Lindsey about the day he was stabbed.
Lindsey testified that he met up with Cabell, whom he described as a longtime friend, to smoke marijuana in Lindsey’s girlfriend’s car.
The argument started after Lindsey refused to fully help Cabell with an unspecified task, according to Lindsey’s testimony. Cabell became angry and responded with offensive comments, Lindsey said.
It ultimately turned physical after Lindsey drove to the nearby home of a mutual friend on the 2300 block of Gideon Avenue in Zion. In response to the comments, Lindsey said he pushed Cabell, who responded by threatening to call a relative.
Lindsey said he then knocked the phone out of Cabell’s hand, at which point Cabell ran into the friend’s house, returned with a knife, and began cutting the tires on Lindsey’s girlfriend’s car, according to the testimony.
After approaching Cabell, Lindsey said Cabell stabbed him twice, once in the chest and once in the back.
“How did it feel?” Newman asked.
‘Pain,” Lindsey answered. “Like (being) shot.”
Lindsey testified that Cabell took off.
According to Zion police, officers responded to a call of a stabbing at about 7:45 p.m. and found Lindsey bleeding heavily through his clothes. Police said Lindsey initially told officers he was stabbed by someone he didn’t know.
Lindsey was taken to Condell Medical Center where he was initially listed in critical condition and received treatment including measures to treat a collapsed lung.
Lindsey said he still has severe back pain and trouble standing up “to this day.”
Under further questioning by Newman, Lindsey said he initially lied to a Zion police because “I wanted to handle it myself.”
According to police testimony, Lindsey began to implicate Cabell while in the hospital, but it was 45 days after the incident when he finally went to the Zion Police Department, identified Cabell from a photo lineup and provided a written statement saying Cabell had stabbed him.
“I wanted to do it the right way and if something ever happened to him I didn’t want to get blamed for it,” Lindsey testified Wednesday.
Cabell has been held in Lake County Jail on $150,000 bail since his arrest. If convicted of the attempted murder charge, a Class X felony, Cabell would have faced a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison. He was also charged with three counts of aggravated battery.
Meyers didn’t let up on Lindsey in closing arguments late Wednesday afternoon, again calling him a “criminal” and “an absolute liar.”
Meyers said Cabell had moved from Zion to live with his wife at Naval Station Great Lakes, and that “for whatever reason, (Lindsey) blamed Surgene Cabell (for the stabbing) because Surgene Cabell got out.”
Meyers suggested “this was a drug deal,” and that Lindsey was stabbed by someone to whom he owed money.
Meyers also said the state provided no DNA evidence, fingerprints or phone records that implicated Cabell.
In his closing arguments, Newman reiterated to the jury that a Zion police officer arriving at the scene called in the license plate of a car leaving the scene and it came back as being registered to Cabell’s wife.
He also noted that Lindsey testified to knowing Cabell since he was 12 years old.
“This wasn’t a stranger to him,” Newman said. “He was absolutely willing to drive Surgene to take care of his own damn business, but he wasn’t going to be his muscle or do his dirty work. That pissed Surgene off.”
Newman said that while Lindsey’s first instinct was to get back at Cabell himself, “thankfully, blessedly, he didn’t. He invoked the system. He decided to let the system take care of it,” Newman told the jury.
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Closing arguments ended at about 6:30 p.m., and the jury began deliberations soon after.
Twitter @jimnewton5