Witness testimony concluded Wednesday afternoon in a hearing on a defense motion to suppress evidence in the upcoming murder trial of David Brocksom, accused of fatally shooting his ex-wife in her Gurnee home last year.
The main point of contention is a notebook, which officials said police recovered from a laptop bag in his girlfriend’s car.
The notebook was published on screen in court on Nov. 2 when the hearing began, and it includes entries such as directions to the victim’s house; a “things to bring” list that included black clothes; and a “things to do” list with notations including clearing all phone history.
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Evidence entered into the hearing includes a screen shot of one of the handwritten lists that said, “Key, Open, Do it, Prints tools and bags, leave, lock doors.”
Brocksom allegedly killed his wife in the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 2015, after driving to Gurnee from the Wisconsin Dells, where he was staying at a resort with his children.
Defense attorneys Gabe Conroe and John Bailey are seeking to have the notebook barred as evidence, claiming in the motion that he has the right to privacy and the person who granted permission for police to search the car and laptop bag, Brocksom’s girlfriend, did not have authority to do so.
The motion acknowledges that the notebook belonged to Brocksom.
Assistant state’s attorneys Jason Humke and John Brown, prosecuting the case and arguing the motion for the state, interviewed several law enforcement witnesses Wednesday afternoon, including investigators from the Lake County Major Crime Task Force and the Gurnee Police Department.
Among the witnesses was Major Crime Task Force member Michael Bush, a detective with the Mundelein Police Department, who said he interviewed Brocksom’s girlfriend on Sept. 27, 2015 at the Kenosha Police Department.
Bush said the main objective of the interview was to see if the woman knew where Brocksom was. Bush said she told him she had been in a close relationship with Brocksom for years, and he called her that morning, said he had been involved in an accident and asked her to pick up his children and belongings at the Wisconsin Dells resort.
Bush testified the woman brought the children to the Kenosha Police Station on her own and his interview with her was “very conversational.”
He said she told him Brocksom’s belongings from the resort had been put in a black computer portfolio bag that was in the back of her car at the police station, and that she signed a consent form for the task force to search the car and the bag.
The items were then photographed and taken as evidence by officers.
In cross examination, Conroe asked if that evidence was collected pursuant to a search warrant, and Bush responded, “No.”
Mundelein Police Det. Traci Pugliese testified that she interviewed Brocksom Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 after he turned himself in at the Gurnee Police Station, and he said that while he was in the Wisconsin Dells, he became upset over ongoing custody issues and conflicts, as well as something that his daughter had told him, and decided to drive to Gurnee to see his ex-wife.
Brocksom was indicted on several counts of first-degree murder last fall by a Lake County grand jury after his arrest for the shooting. He was also charged with armed home invasion and robbery. Brocksom has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and remains in Lake County Jail with bail set at $3 million. A trial date is not currently set.
According to police and prosecutors, Brocksom’s former wife, Beata Brocksom, 43, was shot to death following a confrontation with the defendant at her Gurnee home at about 4 a.m. the day of the slaying.
Police said Brocksom claimed his wife answered the door at the home and the couple argued, and as the argument escalated, his wife struck him with an object and knocked him unconscious.
Authorities have said Brocksom has claimed that when he regained consciousness, his ex-wife was standing over him with a gun, and the two began to struggle over the weapon.
Brocksom allegedly told investigators that the gun went off during the struggle, striking Beata Brocksom in the chin, according to police. Authorities said Brocksom recounted that she then fled through a window, he followed and the fight continued in the yard, where he said held his former wife by the wrists and then the throat as they struggled over the gun until he heard her make a gurgling sound and realized she had stopped breathing. He said he then dragged her behind a bush, according to authorities.
He then fled the home with the gun and contacted his girlfriend, police said.
Following the witness testimony Wednesday, Judge Mark Levitt scheduled a Jan 12 date for concluding evidence and arguments in the hearing on the motion.
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