By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County State’s Attorney’s office is appealing key rulings barring hearsay testimony in the Kirk Zimmerman murder case, claiming those decisions from the trial judge make it much more difficult to prosecute the case.
Court documents reveal local prosecutors have filed appeals with the Fourth District Appellate Court in Springfield, asking justices to overturn some of McLean County Judge Scott Drazewski’s pre-trial decisions.
In the court file, the notice of appeal filed by the state’s attorney’s office stated Drazewski’s rulings are “substantially impairing the ability to prosecute.”
Zimmerman is accused of shooting his ex-wife Pamela multiple times in her East Washington Street office in November of 2014.
In August, the judge refused to reconsider his rulings prohibiting testimony from certain witnesses who claim Pamela Zimmerman feared her ex-husband.
Drazewski said recollections from the various witnesses involved only paraphrases or summaries of their conversations with Mrs. Zimmerman. The judge said those witnesses are not providing actual verbatim accounts of their conversations with her.
The next pre-trial hearing is October 24. It’s not known how the appeals process will impact the scheduling of a trial date in the now three-year old murder case.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
