A La Salle County jury will decide Thursday whether Malcolm Whitfield fired the shots that killed Shaquita Kelly and injured two others.
And the jury can consider the possibility that Whitfield acted in self-defense, even though Whitfield decided Wednesday not to take the stand.
Whitfield, 31, of Streator (also listed in DeKalb), is on trial this week in La Salle County Circuit Court for multiple felonies led by first-degree murder. His complicated sentencing range could mean more than 100 years in prison if convicted.
Both the prosecution and defense rested Wednesday, and jurors were sent home for the day with orders to report for closing arguments at 1 p.m. Thursday.
Whitfield, meanwhile, told Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. that he won’t testify. No explanation was offered, and any discussions with his lawyer were behind closed doors.
Can he still argue self-defense despite not testifying? Attorneys consulted for this story said yes, although it is atypical for defendants to do so without taking the stand themselves.
If Whitfield pursues self-defense, he’ll cite a problematic (for both sides) interview with Streator police at a holding facility in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was picked up five days after the shooting.
Whitfield told Streator police, who conducted the out-of-state interview, that he tried to break up the fight but was unarmed and didn’t shoot at anyone. Police told Whitfield that they’d spoken to multiple witnesses and didn’t buy his story.
“It’s not if you shot,” an off-screen investigator told him in a taped interview the jury saw Tuesday, “it’s why you shot.”
But Streator police Sgt. Jason Moore also acknowledged in the taped statement that investigators determined that a gun had indeed been pointed at Whitfield.
“I know you got shot at,” Moore told Whitfield.
Evidence collected at the scene does suggest an exchange of gunfire. Shell casings collected at the scene were found to have come from two different guns.
Even with the admission that Whitfield was fired at, police and prosecutors appear to have caught him in a lie, however. Whitfield denied going on the lam and told investigators that he was in Memphis to visit a family member. It had been planned for some time.
That didn’t jibe with the testimony of his probation officer. Jenny Fredrickson testified that Whitfield never contacted her seeking required permission to leave the state.
“Would that have been necessary for him to travel?” prosecutor Matt Kidder said.
“Yes,” Whitfield’s probation officer replied.
“Would that have to have been done in writing?”
“Yes.”
Ottawa defense attorney Ryan Hamer still could try to play up perceived defects in the state’s case.
Although two eyewitnesses directly implicated Whitfield in the shooting May 6, 2023, Hamer has suggested in open-court remarks that both have credibility issues.
Rachael Carter is a convicted felon, paroled last year after serving time for an ancillary role in the shooting.
Brianna Anderson is a shooting victim who identified Whitfield as her assailant. Hamer argued, in a failed motion to toss the case, that her testimony is wobbly due to trauma, lack of sleep and the “chaotic” nature of the crime scene.
The only evidence not significantly disputed was how Kelly died. Although police at the scene described the victims’ injuries as “lower limb,” a pathologist testified Wednesday that Kelly suffered a gunshot to a knee and the bullet severed two major blood vessels. She bled to death.