Prosecutors want jury to hear details of fatal chase

A Cook County judge heard arguments Monday on whether a jury should hear about the criminal activity and police chase that prosecutors say led to the crash that killed one Buffalo Grove High School student and critically injured another.

The evidence, Assistant State's Attorney Karen Crothers said, will prove Ralph Lewis of Springfield was guilty of such gross misconduct that the 2006 car crash that killed Corey Diamond, a high school junior and Eagle Scout, was "not only probably … but inevitable."

Lewis, charged with first-degree murder, is accused of running a red light at Dundee and Schoenbeck roads in Wheeling and slamming a stolen U-Haul into a car carrying three students out for a snack run.

Diamond was a passenger in the car. The driver, Elliott Cellini, remained in a coma weeks after the accident. A third passenger sustained no serious injuries. Cellini was in court Monday along with members of Diamond's family.

Prosecutors want the jury to hear about the chain of events that began on July 22, 2006, when Lewis is accused of using fraudulent identification to rent a U-Haul.

The following day, prosecutors say, Lewis drove the U-Haul to Gurnee Mills, intent on filling the vehicle with stolen goods to pay back drug debts.

At Gurnee Mills, prosecutors say, Lewis gave the same fraudulent identification to apply for store credit cards, which he used to buy cell phones at a mall kiosk and other merchandise at Sears and J.C. Penny.

He fled the Home Depot at Gurnee Mills after store personnel told him they were calling police because they suspected his identification was forged, prosecutors said.

The call triggered a police chase in which Lewis drove at high speeds, through numerous red lights and head-on into traffic, prosecutors said, culminating in the fatal crash that projected the victims' car 300 feet down the street.

Lewis's defense attorney argued that the law deliberately makes it difficult to admit evidence of past crimes because such evidence is highly prejudicial.

Cook County Judge Thomas Fecarrota plans to rule on the motion June 25.