Retired Chicago Police Det. Dan Everett is the state's first witness. He's the cop who collected the tape at the center of the case from the Sun-Times more than five years ago.
Everett explained that he had retired in 2006 after nearly 30 years as a Chicago Police officer, adding that he had spent most of his career investigating child abuse.
Under questioning from Assistant State's Attorney Robert Heilingoetter, Everett said he had been detailed to investigate the tape after his Lieutenant received a call from the Sun-Times on Feb. 2, 2002.
He said he'd watched the tape on the same day and had identified what "appeared to me to be an underage female and an individual who was an adult male."
But after the tape was played for the jury, Judge Gaughan angrily stopped Everett as he testified.
Asked by Heillingoetter if he'd made any observations of the tape, Everett said, "I recognized the underage female from a previous investigation."
Defense attorney Ed Genson objected to the reference to the "previous investigation" — which Gaughan had previously ruled could not be mentioned in front of the jury. Gaughan then ordered the jury removed from the courtroom so that he could warn Everett not to refer to that previous investigation again.
Gaughan said he'd declare a mistrial if Everett repeated his mistake.
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