Jimmie Smith
COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — What happens when an accused child rapist wants to get copies of intimate photos of his young victims ... and he's serving as his own lawyer in the case?
That's the legal quandary that just played out in Cook County's main criminal courthouse when 40-year-old Jimmie Smith requested access to graphic medical photos of his alleged rape victims.
Prosecutors tried to bar Smith from getting the photos, saying it was akin to providing him with child porn that he could view in jail — and possibly distribute — while he awaits trial.
Smith is accused of terrorizing and raping two girls, ages 14, and two women — 21 and 22 — in 2009. Prosecutors said Smith was armed with a gun when he kidnapped his victims in Englewood and brought all four to an abandoned auto garage in south suburban Harvey.
Prosecutors say Smith raped each victim and choked and smothered at least two until they passed out. He then left them, bound by rope and tape, inside the garage. They eventually escaped and reported the crime to a nearby business, prosecutors said.
Two nurse examiners took photos of the victims' extensive injuries at a nearby hospital, and those images became the focal point of a hearing last week.
Smith is representing himself in the case after allegedly stabbing one public defender in the neck with a shank and cycling through several others. (He's also accused of hiring hitmen to kill the prosecutor on the case as well as a judge that had been hearing his case.)
As his own lawyer, Smith requested access to the pictures, which include close-up shots of his alleged victims' breasts and genitalia, in order to dispute the injuries, he said. Smith implied he wouldn't trust the nurses' testimony during trial if he couldn't see the images they snapped firsthand.
"I don't know if the photos coincide with what the state have," Smith said, adding that the pictures could help inform his legal strategy: "I don't know if this is something I'll go all the way fighting for, or give up on."
Assistant State's Attorney Michelle Papa, meanwhile, argued the pictures were "akin to child pornography" since two of the alleged victims were just 14 years old when they were taken. She said handing over the shots to Smith would re-victimize the four women.
"They have a right to be treated with dignity and privacy," Papa said. "Those photos would be with him in the jail," where Smith has been held without bail since 2009.
Papa argued that Smith could distribute the photos as he pleased, and that such pictures were contraband in Cook County Jail.
"Once that bell is rung, it cannot be unrung," she said.
"We have no intention of using these photographs during the trial. They don't belong to him. They aren't his," Papa continued.
After listening to both arguments last week, Cook County Judge William Timothy O'Brien agreed to hand over the photos — but Smith's access would be limited to looking at the pictures on a secure computer in the presence of sheriff's deputies.
"I'm not going to give you a hard copy of them," O'Brien told Smith. "You'll be able to take notes. ... You're not going to be able to take them back to your cell."
Richard Kling, an attorney and professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said he wasn't surprised by the ruling.
"It's a bizarre circumstance because he's representing himself," said Kling, who previously worked as a public defender. "But if he were represented by counsel, other than himself, his lawyer would positively be able to see [the photos] under Illinois evidence and discovery rules."
During Thursday's hearing, Smith also requested access to graphic pictures and videos that an FBI lab downloaded from his cellphone. According to prosecutors, the videos included three clips of Smith having sex with women, and an additional video of an unclothed female. It's unclear who the women are, prosecutors said, since the videos focus on bodies, not faces.
Papa slammed the request, saying the cellphone photos and videos aren't relevant to the case since authorities have not been able to identify the women. The videos and photos won't be entered into evidence or used at trial, she said.
"I believe [Smith's] reason for asking is that he believes the photos involve him and the victims," Papa said.
But O'Brien ruled that Smith can look at both the cellphone photos and videos, which were to be placed on a compact disc; officials would need to monitor Smith's access.
As the 90-minute hearing drew to a close, O'Brien said he anticipated a February trial date. Several attorneys and staffers in the courtroom snickered at the suggestion, as the case has dragged on for more than six years already.
Since Smith's initial arrest in May 2009, his case has experienced myriad delays as Smith racked up additional charges. He's accused of trying to murder his public defender, trying to hire someone to murder Papa and a judge, and having weapons in Cook County Jail, among other charges.
According to court records, Smith used a shank to stab a public defender multiple times in his head, neck and upper body during a meeting on Dec. 10, 2014. Smith also punched the man, prosecutors said.
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, 2014, Smith tried to hire at least two people — one of whom was an undercover officer who went by "Big Moe" — to murder both Papa and Judge James Linn, court records show. Papa is the lead prosecutor on this case, and Linn was the presiding judge at the time.
To date, Smith has cycled through several public defenders and had his case transferred among several local judges at 26th Street and California. Judge O'Brien typically works in suburban Skokie, but is commuting to Chicago to hear this case, court sources said.
After Smith was approved Thursday to view the medical photos, he told O'Brien he would also like to collect a comprehensive history of his head injuries. Smith said he cracked his head open at a juvenile detention center when he was 14 years old. He also mentioned a motorcycle crash, and claimed a ceiling fell on his head when he was 13.
"You're not trying to delay things, are you? Because you seem pretty with it to me," O'Brien told Smith, before asking whether Smith was trying to build an insanity defense.
"I don't know which direction I'm going in, your honor," Smith replied. "I'm not saying I'm insane or unfit."
Smith was previously found sane and fit to stand trial by both a county psychiatrist and psychologist.
His next court date is Jan. 8.
Motion to Deny Jimmie Smith Access to Photos
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