Edwardsville murder suspect files ‘incoherent’ motions to dismiss charges
Edwardsville murder suspect Zachary Capers filed three hand-written motions in Madison County Circuit Court this month, asking for a “closed” hearing to get his case dismissed and mentioning his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
Capers’ court-appointed attorney, Public Defender John Rekowski, said Monday he didn’t know his client was going to file the motions.
“They’re basically incoherent,” Rekowski said. “And given that circumstance, I have no idea what Mr. Capers is thinking or what he’s trying to do.”
Rekowski said the court will likely ignore the motions since Capers isn’t representing himself and Rekowski doesn’t plan to adopt them as part of his defense.
“They make no sense,” Rekowski said. “They are gibberish. They are jabberwocky.”
Capers, 24, formerly of Glen Carbon and Collinsville, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the March stabbing deaths of chiropractor Lois Ladd, 68, and her husband, Michael Ladd, 79, a general contractor, in their Edwardsville home.
Capers pleaded “not guilty” at his April arraignment after a grand jury indicted him. Since that time, the trial has been continued several times to allow for more DNA testing.
Motions use legal terminology
Capers filed his motions on Feb. 12. They are printed by hand on lined notebook paper and include legal terminology.
The first is, “’A Motion To conduct A Hearing in a Intermediate Appellate Court towards dissmissing {sic} Specified counts of the indictment or information’, due to extenuating circumstances that ‘that hearing’, be subject to specific intent of Reciprocity.”
The second is, “’A Motion for a Closed Hearing (public access)‘, — due to fifth amendment rights to not self-incriminalize myself.”
The third is a, “’Motion To Except A Untimely Filing’, — due to lapse of time.”
It’s not a regular occurrence that a defendant files a motion on his own while being represented by legal counsel, but it’s not unheard of, according to Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons, whose office is prosecuting the Capers case.
Generally, no court action is taken unless a motion is filled by the person’s attorney.
“We are unable to determine what Mr. Capers is seeking with these motions,” Gibbons said. “It’s not particularly clear. We will leave it up to his attorney and the court to decide whether there’s going to be any attempt to clarify this in court or take up any of this.”
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Mental capacity under review
Edwardsville police found the bodies of Lois and Michael Ladd the morning of March 18, 2019, at their home in the 800 block of North Kansas Street. It’s believed they were killed March 16 or 17.
The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was brought in to investigate. At that point, police already had arrested Capers on an outstanding Madison County warrant in an unrelated incident March 17 in Worden. They later linked him to the Ladd case.
Officials believe Capers was homeless. His many police contacts included reports of odd behavior and voluntary transport to a hospital psychiatric unit. In March, Rekowski said Capers had “mental issues.”
“I think the (Feb. 12) motions show that he’s not functioning on the level that a court expects a defendant to be operating on to be able to assist in his case and work with his counsel,” Rekowski said Monday.
The public defender isn’t ruling out an insanity defense for Capers.
“I have experts working on that area, but I have not formulated an opinion because, frankly, I don’t have enough information to form an opinion,” Rekowski said.
Capers’ next court date is April 13.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 9:27 AM.
