Jury sees video of interrogations in homicide case

"I didn't kill him. I know that for a fact."

Jessie Bell started out confident -- if sleepy -- in video of his interrogation the afternoon of April 12, 2014, the day Bell is accused of helping kill 46-year-old James "Jimmy" Morrison. The videos of two interrogations were shown Thursday in Union County, Illinois, Circuit Court.

But under questioning by Sgt. Chad Brown of the Illinois State Police and Anna, Illinois, police detective Brian Watkins that afternoon, Bell -- after being read his Miranda rights and without an attorney present -- admitted he hit Morrison in the head, and in a later interview with police, Bell acknowledged he might have been responsible for Morrison's death.

"I think they said this man's dead. Is that right? ... Jimmy Morrison? ... I didn't know," Bell said.

In the videos, Bell rubbed his face and eyes and yawned several times. At one point, when left alone in the room, Bell even appeared to fall asleep for about 20 minutes.

Bell said he'd been out with his uncle, Ricky Turner, late April 11 or early April 12 when they decided to go by the house at 313 Douglas St. in Anna, where Morrison later was found dead.

Bell said several people were sitting in the kitchen when Morrison came into the room. When Bell asked how he was doing, Morrison hit him in the mouth with his elbow, Bell said.

Bell told the officers Morrison got "meaner and meaner" as the night went on, adding he had told Morrison several times he'd rather be friends.

"I held my cool for hours" after being hit in the mouth, Bell said. He told the officers Morrison eventually "kicked everyone out" of the house.

Before they left, Bell told the officers, he got out of the Ford F-150 he'd gotten into with Travis Turner -- who also faces murder charges in connection with Morrison's death -- and went back to the house to ask about some rent money.

Bell knocked and was told to come in, he said, at which point Morrison "started swinging," Bell said. "And that's when I tried to defend myself."

"Why did [Morrison] go down?" Brown asked.

"He'd been hit in the head with something," Bell said.

Bell said after Morrison fell, "He was moving, so I punched him a few more times."

"I think he was dead right there on the spot," he said.

Bell told the officers he'd hit Morrison on the right side of the head four or five times, but Brown told Bell eyewitnesses had said he'd punched Morrison more than 20 times, then had to be pulled off. Bell agreed Patrick Turner had told him to stop and pulled him off, but said he didn't remember hitting Morrison that many times.

In the video, Bell said he has been in a lot of fights and got tattoos on his arms to remind him of his children.

"I can't afford to fight," he said.

In the courtroom Thursday, Bell dried his eyes with a tissue after hearing his own comments about his children.

"I'm supposed to take psychotropic medication," Bell said in the video. "I don't take it."

He later added he didn't take the medication even though he occasionally had suicidal thoughts.

"It don't help, and it really just eats your mind up," he said.

Brown asked Bell if it was possible he'd blacked out. Bell conceded it was.

"I was so drunk I was throwing up alcohol," Bell said. He later indicated he was afraid because he thought he was too drunk to fight.

When Bell spoke next, his voice broke slightly: "I wish I was never even there," he said, wiping his eyes with his shirt.

In the video of the second interrogation, which took place April 14, 2014, at the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, Bell again was read his rights by Brown and again spoke without an attorney present, although he asked for clarification.

Ryan Sykes of the Illinois State Police was present for that round of questioning.

Bell told the same basic story, elaborating he'd gone back to the house to ask when Morrison planned to refund rent money to Ricky Turner, whom he had evicted.

Bell said he didn't give Travis Turner verbal encouragement when he and Morrison exited the house, but "I did give him eye contact."

Turner "didn't have to take the go-ahead," Bell said, adding he accepted the help because he believed he was in danger.

Bell told officers Morrison made a jerking movement, which "could have been his nerves." Bell said he thought Morrison was getting back up, so he jumped on him.

Bell said not knowing Morrison was dead at that point, he left.

"If the job wasn't finished with the board, I did it," he said.

The videos were entered as evidence by Union County State's Attorney Tyler Edmonds, but defense lawyer Patrick Duffy cross-examined Brown on the witness stand about why he continued to interview Bell when it was clear he was falling asleep.

"I did not know he was sleep-deprived," Brown said.

But Brown couldn't place a time during an accounting of Bell's whereabouts the night before when he'd had a chance to sleep.

Duffy also pointed out Bell had admitted to being intoxicated at the time he was questioned, yet Brown did not administer a Breathalyzer test.

Duffy quoted Bell from the video: "'It's OK to have a lawyer, right? Is that what you said?'" and asked Brown if he thought that meant Bell wanted more information.

"No," Brown replied.

The state continues its case today.

kwebster@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

313 Douglas St., Anna, IL

Market Street, Jonesboro, IL 62952