Murder Suspect Accused Of Threatening Jail Officer
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (STMW) -- A Kenosha man accused of shooting and killing a Round Lake Park woman during a 2007 robbery in Waukegan faces new felony charges for allegedly threatening a sheriff's deputy in Lake County Jail.
Montago Suggs, 29, who is accused of shooting clerk Melinda Morrell, 22, during a 2007 robbery of the former Waukegan Check 'n Go store on Green Bay Road, was arraigned on the new charge Wednesday, Sept. 12, in Lake County Circuit Court.
Suggs pleaded not guilty to aggravated intimidation, which Judge Daniel Shanes said stemmed from an Aug. 5 incident in which he allegedly "communicated a threat to impose physical harm" to a deputy who was transferring Suggs to the administrative segregation unit.
Shanes then heard motions from prosecutors and defense attorneys to have certain evidence excluded from Suggs' upcoming murder trial, including portions of an interrogation in which Suggs admits to stealing a car to escape the murder scene, as well as other statements in which he implies to spending previous time in jail and stealing other cars.
Suggs' trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 23 and Shanes said he will not allow the motions to delay the trial. He gave both sides until noon Monday to provide case law on the issues being raised.
The court has already denied a defense motion to suppress Suggs' taped confession.
Suggs has been in Lake County Jail since being arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and attempted robbery.
According to police and prosecutors, Suggs shot Morrell in the back of the head May 21, 2007, during the Check 'n Go robbery, in which $2,000 was stolen.
Investigators were led to Suggs after he allegedly tried to shoot a clerk at the Ma & Pa's Corner Store, 37737 N. Green Bay Road, Beach Park, five days later.
Police said he forced the store clerk to the ground behind the register, pointing a gun at him and asking, "Do you want to die?"
But the loaded gun did not have a round in the chamber, according to authorities, leading him to flee with no money. He was found hiding in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
