Judge says suspect in ISU student's death can't represent himself

<p>A man charged with killing an Illinois State University student last year cannot represent himself at trial because of his past courtroom outbursts, a McLean County judge ruled Friday.</p><p>Maurice Wallace, 27, said he wanted to act as his own attorney because he doesn't trust his court-appointed lawyers. Prosecutors opposed the move, and Assistant State's Attorney Kim Campbell said Wallace's real goal was a mistrial.</p><p>"Our goal is to make sure his rights are protected and he gets a fair trial and we're done with it," Campbell said outside court.</p><p>Judge Scott Drazewski said he denied Wallace's request because Wallace has cursed, spit on the floor, refused to attend hearings and behaved disrespectfully in past court hearings. He told Wallace that he could no longer address the court directly or he would be held in contempt.</p><p>Wallace objected to the ruling and told the judge, "People I don't trust, I don't grant them responsibilities over my life."</p><p>After the ruling, Drazewski asked Wallace to confer outside the courtroom with his attorneys, who also opposed Wallace's request. "Those are not my lawyers," Wallace replied.</p><p>"Hopefully, we'll build some trust. Whether we do or not is to a large extent going to be up to him," Brian McEldowney, one of Wallace's public defenders, said outside court.</p><p>Wallace has pleaded not guilty to charges he killed 21-year-old Olamide Adeyooye, whose badly burned body was found in October in the rubble of a Mississippi chicken house. She had disappeared eight days earlier, prompting a nationwide search.</p><p>He also faces attempted murder and attempted escape charges in a May attack that seriously injured a McLean County jail officer and is charged with aggravated battery and theft in separate cases.</p><p>If convicted on all the charges, he faces more than 100 years in prison.</p><p>Prosecutors said the jail officer attack showed that Wallace posed a danger to the court and would be an escape risk if he were allowed to be his own attorney.</p><p>Campbell said Wallace has an anti-social personality, contempt for authority and a violent nature, including writing a letter to her from jail that she said contained "veiled threats."</p><p>"He believes himself to be a martyr and that he's in the middle of a social revolution, so he's not going to behave himself in a manner that's in his best interest at trial. He's going to make a statement, a political statement," Campbell told reporters.</p><p>McEldowney said the judge's ruling brings the case closer to a resolution, showing Wallace that "he can't thwart the proceedings just by refusing to talk or cooperate."</p><p>"Whether he chooses to cooperate or not, the proceedings are going to go forward and if he chooses to be uncooperative then it's going to be to his detriment," McEldowney said.</p><p>Drazewski also ruled Friday that Wallace is fit to stand trial in the attack on jailer Olivia Anglin based on a psychiatric evaluation. Wallace was earlier ruled fit for trial in Adeyooye's murder.</p><p>Prosecutors allege Wallace, who lived on the same block as Adeyooye, killed the ISU senior in her apartment, then dumped her body in her car and drove away.</p><p>Adeyooye's car keys were found in a rental car Wallace had when he was arrested Oct. 20 in Atlanta on the unrelated charges, according to prosecutors. Authorities say Adeyooye's car was later found abandoned in Atlanta.</p><p>Prosecutors also allege Wallace left a bloody fingerprint in her apartment and told someone just hours before her death that he felt like killing to get his name in the news. He is being held in the McLean County Jail in lieu of more than $2 million bond and will appear in court again July 28.</p><p>Adeyooye, who was to graduate from the 20,000-student university in December, was a native of Nigeria who moved to the Chicago suburb of Berkeley when she was 8.</p><p>Wallace's attorneys will seek to move his case out of McLean County because of pretrial publicity. McEldowney said Friday that a poll of potential jurors has been completed, but results have not been tabulated. A hearing on the change of venue motion was set for Aug. 18.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/7/120203