7 hours Ago By Daily Gazette, Sterling, Ill.
Apr. 7—MORRISON — A Whiteside County judge has issued an order directing the Illinois State Police to video record blood and DNA testing carried out at the state crime lab in Rockford in connection with a Rock Falls fatal stabbing case. Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge James Heuerman made that decision Friday, April 4, in response to a motion from defense attorney Jim Mertes, who is representing Kyle C.
Cooper of Rock Falls. Cooper will stand trial on a first-degree murder charge next month for the Feb. 14 death of Daniel J.
Gordon of Rock Falls. ExpandAutoplay Image 1 of 4 Attorney Jim Mertes speaks with Kyle Cooper on Friday, April 4, 2025, in Whiteside County Circuit Court in Morrison. (Alex T.
Paschal) At issue is what is known as consumptive testing, a process in which bodily fluid evidence tests leave little to no remaining sample after testing is complete. Whiteside County Assistant State's Attorney Ryan Simon requested Friday that Heuerman allow consumptive testing, after which Mertes followed up with his request to allow a defense designee be there to videotape the procedure. Mertes said he wanted that safeguard in place "to protect the due process and rights of the defendant.
" Mertes said it is important to memorialize such testing through video and sought to have a designee of the defense present at the testing that will be done on DNA and blood samples collected from Cooper's vehicle and a bloody pair of pants he was wearing when he turned himself in at the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office in the hours after the stabbing. "The Illinois State Police should not be allowed to perform consumptive testing without a designee of the defense," Mertes said. He said in previous cases in which consumptive testing was allowed, the ISP refused to let a defendant's designee observe, even after a judge ruled that a designee would be allowed in.
He called the ISP's actions akin to not following a court order. Simon said the ISP doesn't want someone in the lab video recording out of concern that they could contaminate the lab. He said the ISP would want someone who understands the testing process and can follow lab protocols, such as making sure they are not recording testing in other cases.
Heuerman granted Simon's request for consumptive testing, then followed up with granting Mertes' motion for video recording, but said that video must be done by an employee of the Illinois State Police Department of Forensics, not a defense designee. That video, which would not contain audio, would then be given to the State's Attorney's Office, which would disclose it to the defense. "Whether they'll do it or not, we'll find out," Heuerman said of the ISP.
Cooper will next appear in court at 1:30 p.m. April 23 for a pretrial conference, with his trial set to start at 8:30 a.
m. May 13. Cooper, 36, is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery in connection with Gordon's death.
Gordon, 27, was found unresponsive with multiple abdominal stab wounds about 2 a.m. Feb.
14 in the 600 block of West 20th Street in Rock Falls after Cooper and Gordon fought in a driveway, police said. Gordon died later that day at CGH Medical Center in Sterling, according to officials. [ Prosecutor: Rock Falls man accused of Valentine's Day murder had history of threatening exes' new partners ] Cooper has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has demanded a speedy trial.
In laying out details of the state's case in late February, Simon said Cooper was taken into custody on an aggravated battery charge in the hours after Gordon was stabbed. In detailing the state's case, Simon said the events leading up to the stabbing included a verbal altercation at a bar just hours before between Cooper and Gordon, who was dating a woman who previously had dated Cooper. Gordon and the woman left the bar and later went to a home in the 600 block of West 20th Street in Rock Falls.
Simon said the couple were at the house when a vehicle Cooper was in pulled up to the house, and Cooper got out of the vehicle while holding something shiny in his hand. The woman was fearful Cooper was going to use a knife to vandalize her vehicle and approached Cooper, who began pushing the woman, Simon said. Simon said Gordon got involved to protect the woman, that Cooper jumped on top of Gordon and stabbed Gordon in the abdomen several times before others were able to pull Cooper off Gordon.
Cooper then left the scene, Simon said. [ Judge: Probable cause exists in Rock Falls stabbing case, will continue toward trial ] Rock Falls police were called to the scene about 1:50 a.m.
When officers arrived, they found Gordon in the driveway, unresponsive and suffering from severe injuries, Simon said. Cooper, wearing blood-stained clothes, turned himself in at the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office later that morning and was charged with aggravated battery, police said. He was formally charged four days later with murder and an additional count of aggravated battery.
He has been detained in the Whiteside County Jail since his Feb. 14 arrest..
