[IL] Which officer's wife is recanting today? Sgt.'s Merritt's.

...A 911 recording played in court contained Merritt's sobbing wife telling a dispatcher that Merritt had hit her in the side of the head and had threatened to kill her... Merritt's 10-year-old son later testified that he saw his father swing his arm toward Gappa followed the sound of her falling to the ground...

I WAS MAD.
I HAD TOO MUCH TO DRINK.
I HADN'T TAKEN MY MEDS.
I CAN BE QUITE DRAMATIC.
DETAILS?
I DON'T REMEMBER.

COP’S WIFE SAYS SHE LIED
By Jillian Duchnowski - jduchnowski@nwherald.com
Northwest Herald
May 21, 2009 1:15 a.m. CDT
The wife of a suspended Algonquin police sergeant testified that she lied to police about her husband hitting her March 4 because she was mad about his drinking. She was the first witness prosecutors called Wednesday in a trial for Wade Merritt, 46, of the Oakwood Hills area. He faces two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and a single misdemeanor count of attempted obstructing a police officer. Later Wednesday, Merritt’s 10-year-old son testified that he saw his father raise his hand and saw his stepmother laying on the hallway floor soon after, but he said his view of any impact was obstructed from where he was kneeling in the bathroom with the door open. A 911 recording played in court contained Merritt’s sobbing wife telling a dispatcher that Merritt had hit her in the side of the head and had threatened to kill her. She refused to tell the dispatcher where he worked as a police officer but said he had hit her before. “He hasn’t done it for a couple of years, but tonight he’s out of control,” Merritt’s wife said on the March 4 recording. The recording became muffled, and then Merritt’s wife said: “I’m on the phone with 911, because you hit me for the last time.” But on the stand, Merritt’s wife denied that he hit her. Rather, she said she wasn’t thinking clearly and had wanted to get him in trouble when she called 911... She said she was upset and disappointed in her husband, because she thought he had been drinking more than the martini and beer she had seen him drink. She also had a martini and about three beers... On March 4, Merritt’s wife had not taken prescription medication for anxiety for five days... Merritt’s wife said she had been agitated and drunk at the time... When she testified Wednesday, she said she didn’t remember telling a sheriff’s deputy that she was concerned earlier in the evening when Merritt became drunk and belligerent. She also didn’t remember telling the deputy that Merritt shook his fist at her and threatened to kill her. The bench trial is expected to finish this afternoon before Judge Gordon Graham. In a bench trial, the judge evaluates the evidence and determines the verdict. [Full article here]


WIFE OF ALGONQUIN COP SAYS SHE LIED ABOUT BEING BATTERED Daily Herald
By Charles Keeshan
Published: 5/20/2009 2:07 PM
Updated: 5/20/2009 5:58 PM
...Jacqueline Gappa, his wife of seven years, testified that when she learned he had consumed far more vodka that night than he had led her to believe, she became angry and called 911... Prosecutors interrupted Gappa's testimony by playing a recording of the 911 call she made. During the call - which she called the "stupidest thing I could have ever done" - she repeatedly tells a dispatcher that Merritt struck her in the head, and that it wasn't the first time one of their disputes turned violent... When pressed about the call by Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally, Gappa said she "can be quite dramatic" and denied she was changing her story to save her husband's job. "He'll lose his job, but we'll stay married," she testified. "I'm not here, Mr. Kenneally, because of his job. I'm here because I made a mistake that night." Merritt's 10-year-old son later testified that he saw his father swing his arm toward Gappa followed the sound of her falling to the ground, but never saw him make contact with her... [Full article here]
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