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Crime & Safety

Judge Orders More Fingerprinting in Buell Court Home Invasion Case

Cook County Judge Colleen Ann Hyland warned prosecutors that the next round of fingerprinting of the three defendants in the 2011 Buell Court home invasion case will be the last.


Authorities want to identify a fingerprint found on a magazine in the that ended in the shooting of a woman last August, prosecutors told a Cook County judge Tuesday.

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That was the reason why the Cook County prosecutors asked Judge Colleen Ann Hyland for one more set of prints to be taken from the three defendants . 

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Authorities say Timmie Walton, 28, of Midlothian, and Keon Thigpen, 23, and Kennedy Clark, 51, both of Chicago, forced two women inside a home in the 10100 block of South Buell Court on Aug. 3. Once inside, a male relative reportedly fired a shotgun in the men's direction, but missed. Sometime before they fled, another woman who lived in the home was shot in the arm. It was then, according to Oak Lawn police, that the men .

No charges have been filed against a fourth suspect that remains at large, who is said to have aided Walton, Thigpen and Clark.

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On Tuesday, prosecutors acknowledged that additional fingerprints had already been taken but a forensic scientist said prints found on the side of the magazine had not been analyzed. The prints were most likely from the side of a finger or thumb, prosecutors said.

All three attorneys for the defendants objected to the prosecution's request, with Walton's attorney, Lawrence Levin, calling another round of fingerprinting "duplicitious."

Hyland said instructions for the fingerprinting should have been clarified and the investigator should have been told, but that she will allow fingerprinting one last time.

"[The forensic scientist] needs to specify exactly what she needs to complete her work," Hyland said. "...I'll allow it this time... and then it becomes bothersome. I'm not going to allow for further printing."

None of the defendants' attorneys said they need to be present for the fingerprinting and stipulated that the next round of fingerprints will not include any questioning of the suspects.

The trio is scheduled to be back in court on Sept. 18.

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