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A Spring Valley man charged in the Ottawa shooting death will stand trial for murder on Sept. 8, but the jury won’t hear a tainted confession he gave police.
Nicolaus J. Phillips, 26, appeared Monday in La Salle County Circuit Court for a ruling on his motion to suppress evidence. Phillips argued his rights were violated when he was questioned, while in custody, on June 14, 2023. It was about a week after he was charged with shooting Eric Clements outside Clements’, Ottawa home.
“I don’t think the defendant clearly reinitiated the conversation.”
— H. Chris Ryan Jr., Chief Judge
Phillips isn’t off the hook yet – he remains charged with first-degree murder – but a judge ruled that Phillips’ rights were indeed violated during questioning and that the resulting statement is inadmissible.
Phillips will next appear Sept. 5 for a final pretrial conference. Meanwhile, the alleged getaway driver awaits new trial dates. Chastity Furar also is charged with first-degree murder and was set for trial Monday; but her trial was indefinitely continued. She will next appear May 29 for status.
La Salle County prosecutors had hoped to buttress their case by introducing the in-custody statements Phillips gave La Salle police Detective Sgt. Brian Camenisch, who interviewed Phillips within days of the Clements shooting. Camenisch said he wanted to discuss an open La Salle case from about six months before.
“Was it your intention to try to get him to open up about the (Clements) homicide incident?” Public Defender Ryan Hamer had asked at an earlier phase of the hearing.
“No, it was not,” Camenisch replied.
“So you strictly wanted to discuss the city of La Salle incident?”
“Yes.”
To hear Camenisch tell it, the interview veered from the La Salle investigation to the Clements shooting and it was Phillips who brought it up, repeatedly.
Hamer disputed that the Clements shooting came up naturally. While the taped interview was not played in open court (Ryan said he viewed it in chambers), Camenisch apparently alluded to the Ottawa case in what Hamer seemed to think was an attempt to nudge the interview in that direction.
On Monday, the judge agreed. Ryan acknowledged the conversation segued from the La Salle case to the Clements shooting but it wasn’t voluntary, as required by law. Camenisch was “pulling on him,” the judge ruled, and Phillips didn’t broach the shooting of his own accord.
“I don’t think the defendant clearly reinitiated the conversation,” the judge ruled.