The attorney for twice-convicted murderer Chavez Saulsberry believes enough mistakes occurred during a December trial to earn Saulsberry a new one.
Saulsberry, 26, in turn, thinks his attorney Ron Haskell’s affiliation to another lawyer should get him a second trial in connection to a November 2005 murder in Aurora.
Those court filings occurred over the course of a month after a jury convicted Saulsberry of gunning down Michael Moore in a gang-related killing near Galena Boulevard and Smith Street. Saulsberry is already in prison – with parole not possible until 2064 – for a second murder he committed the same month as the Moore shooting.
Haskell’s motion for a new trial suggests eight specific errors by Kane County Judge James Hallock involving objections and witness testimony, as well as his decision to “interrupt” the trial to allow prosecutors to photograph a gang-related tattoo on Saulsberry’s chest, according to the motion. Haskell also disagreed with Hallock’s allowing prosecutors to object to his closing argument.
“(The) defendant is entitled to his theory of the case without interruption during argument,” Haskell wrote.
Recently, Saulsberry filed a hand-written amendment to the motion for a new trial in which he claims Haskell didn’t disclose his affiliation with attorney Rachel Hess. Haskell was appointed to represent Saulsberry in May 2013 as a conflict attorney – which are typically brought in to handle cases involving multiple defendants represented by the public defender’s office.
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Saulsberry states Hess was allowed to withdraw from his case at some point because she had a conflict. Saulsberry said a Kane County Jail inmate told him in late December that Haskell and Hess were law partners. Hess’ website describes their affiliation as a “joint venture” between each attorney’s individual law office.
The jury needed only 90 minutes to convict Saulsberry in Moore’s death, agreeing that he personally fired the gun used in the murder. Saulsberry is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 28 at which time the post-trial motions are expected to be heard. Prosecutors have not yet filed a response to either motion.
Dan Campana is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News