A Winthrop Harbor teen accused of striking and fatally injuring a Waukegan man while allegedly using a cell phone while driving last summer was never read her Miranda rights, her attorney said Friday.
Justine Kerscher, 17, is charged with aggravated use of an electronic communication device, a Class 4 felony that carries a potential sentence upon conviction of probation to three years in prison.
During a Friday morning hearing before Judge Daniel Shanes, defense attorney Alan Blumenthal filed a motion to suppress statements made by Kerscher to police. Shanes set a July 9 hearing date on the motion and canceled a previously scheduled trial date of June 22.
After the hearing, Blumenthal said police took a statement from Kerscher the evening of Aug. 21, 2014, after she allegedly struck 45-year-old Mark Baker while he was riding a bike near Pine Street and Beach Road in Waukegan. According to Blumenthal, Waukegan police interviewed her again at the police station the next day but never read her rights at any time during either of those days.
Blumenthal is arguing that those statements be suppressed.
The attorney also said a negotiated plea is unlikely in the case.
“At this point we’re going to trial,” Blumenthal said.
Evidence in the case is expected to include phone records, and Blumenthal also told Shanes the defense plans to have an accident reconstruction expert testify at the trial.
Although Blumenthal said Kerscher hopes to have her trial completed before she plans to attend college in September, Shanes questioned whether that would be possible.
“I’m sure she wants to start with all the other students in the fall, but we have a felony matter that has to be handled,” said Shanes, adding that he would set a new trial date following the hearing on the motion.
Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Ori said little during the hearing, aside from confirming that the state would be ready for the July 9 hearing on the motions.
The incident occurred at about 8:10 p.m. last summer and Baker died in mid-September.
According to a Lake County Grand Jury indictment, Kerscher “knowingly operated a roadway while using an electronic communication device” and “the defendant was involved in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in the death of Mark Baker.”
Authorities said it is believed she was texting at the time of the accident. Blumenthal said records should show that texts she sent that evening occurred before, and not at the time of, the accident.
Kerscher has no prior record of offenses and was released on a signature bond to the custody of her parents following her arrest.
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