Judge denies motion to suppress statements in Cairo homicide

CAIRO, Ill. -- An Alexander County, Illinois, circuit judge on Wednesday denied a motion to suppress statements a murder suspect made to police during an interrogation last fall.

Chauncey Hughes, 30, of Cairo faces felony murder charges in connection with the Nov. 1 shooting death of his wife, Heather Davis, 22.

Judge Mark Clarke denied a motion by Hughes' public defender, Zach Gowin, to suppress some of the statements Hughes made to investigators during a Nov. 4 interview, which Sheriff Tim Brown said Hughes initiated.

Emotions ran high in the wake of Clarke's decision, with a visibly frustrated Hughes overturning his chair as he left the courtroom after the hearing.

Before leaving the courtroom, one of Hughes' supporters yelled at members of the Davis family and could be heard delivering a profanity-laden tirade as she left the courthouse, prompting Clarke to ask Brown for additional security during the trial.

In court Wednesday, Brown said Hughes approached him while in custody.

"He said, 'You're the person I'm looking for. I need to talk to you,'" Brown said. " ... Basically, he told me he needed to get something off his chest."

Brown said he told Hughes he couldn't talk to him because Hughes had a lawyer, but Hughes insisted, so Brown contacted State's Attorney Jeff Farris to find out how to proceed.

After Hughes signed a form waiving his Miranda rights, the sheriff and Illinois State Police Sgt. Chad Brown confirmed he was initiating the conversation, then took a statement from him, Tim Brown said.

At a preliminary hearing in December, an Illinois State Police special agent said Hughes changed his story under questioning.

Special agent Ryan Sykes testified Hughes initially told the sheriff and the state trooper a pistol accidentally discharged when Davis handed it to him.

When the officers expressed doubt about Hughes' version of events, he changed his story, saying he accidentally shot Davis while attempting to scare her during an altercation, Sykes testified.

Gowin argued Wednesday that Chad Brown psychologically coerced Hughes into giving the second version of events.

He acknowledged Hughes' conversation with the officers was not the sort of dramatic, film-noir-style interrogation most people would associate with a coerced confession, but he said the court must consider the "totality of circumstances."

"On its face, would the normal citizen watching this statement be repulsed by how the interrogation was handled? Probably not. There's nothing so shocking to the senses that would repulse an ordinary citizen," he said.

But Chad Brown told Hughes he didn't believe his initial story, then fed Hughes his theory about what happened, which Hughes adopted after being led to believe officers had evidence to support that theory, Gowin said.

"They tried to make it seem as though they had a smoking gun or some last great puzzle piece," Gowin said. " ... Chad tells him the story that he'll believe."

But Farris said Hughes spoke entirely of his own free will.

"This defendant, under interrogation as he requested, decided to give first one version of the events of that fateful evening and then to give another version," Farris said.

In denying Gowin's motion, Clarke noted Hughes challenged some of the officers' assertions and responded to open-ended questions by the sheriff.

Clarke also denied a defense motion to reduce Hughes' $500,000 bond.

Hughes was out on bond on another case at the time of the shooting, Clarke and Farris said.

Clarke granted a defense motion to continue the case to Aug. 12 for a pretrial conference, setting a jury trial for Aug. 19.

Hughes shook his head and drew a long breath when Clarke denied the motion to suppress.

He balked when Clarke asked him whether he and Gowin had spoken about the motion to continue and whether he wanted to continue the case, eventually nodding and then answering Clarke with a terse, "Yes."

When Clarke asked him whether he had any questions about his rights ahead of the trial, Hughes replied, "I don't have no rights. You denied every motion."

Gowin whispered something to Hughes.

"It's the truth," Hughes told Gowin.

After another exchange with Hughes, during which he admonished Hughes not to insult the court, Clarke asked again whether the defendant had any questions.

"You got all the questions and all the answers," Hughes replied.

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