A McHenry County circuit judge will rule next month on whether statements made to police by Douglas Vitaioli shortly after his arrest may be entered into evidence at his murder trial.
Vitaioli, 42, is charged with the shooting death of convenience store owner Naoki Kamijima on April 5, 1999. After he was arrested four days later for retail theft, Vitaioli implicated himself in Kamijima’s death while he was being questioned by Crystal Lake and McHenry County sheriff’s officers.
Appearing Wednesday before Judge Thomas Schermerhorn, Vitaioli’s attorney, Jack Rimland, said much of the statement his client made to police should be ruled inadmissible as a violation of his Miranda rights.
According to a police report, Vitaioli said during the interrogation, “You guys are playing games with me. I’m not talking to you any more.”
At that point, Rimland said, the interrogation should have stopped but did not.
“The interview should have ceased when Mr. Vitaioli said he did not want to talk any further,” Rimland said.
McHenry County Sgt. Donald Carlson testified Wednesday that Vitaioli was read his rights and said he understood them before the interrogation began. He said the 30- to 40-minute interview was terminated when Vitaioli said he wanted to talk to a lawyer.
But that was after Vitaioli’s statement about “not talking,” which, Rimland said, “[compels] us to suppress this statement or portions of the statement that begin with `I don’t want to talk to you.'”
Assistant State’s Atty. James McAuliff said Vitaioli “was fully Mirandized” before the interview.
“`I’m not talking to you’ is not the same as `I don’t want to talk to you,'” McAuliff said. The court, he said, should look at the context of statement, saying “this was not an unequivocal no.”
