Opinion ID: 2793140
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Makiel’s Alibi Defense

Text: Makiel presented an alibi defense. His sister Laura Kobak testified that he was babysitting on the night of the murder. Kobak testified that Makiel agreed to babysit so that she and her boyfriend could celebrate her birthday. According to her testimony, Makiel, Hlinko, and two others—Cory and Lisa Majszak—arrived about 6:30 p.m. on October 19, 1988. When Kobak returned around midnight, Makiel and Hlinko were alone with the children. In addition, Makiel presented several witnesses who testified that they had stopped by the gas station around 11:00 p.m. on October 19 and had not seen a blue Cutlass or a white van. Tony Rodriguez testified that he and another man visited Kobak’s house sometime after 8:00 p.m. on October 19. According to Rodriguez, when he arrived, Makiel, Hlinko, and both Majszaks were babysitting Kobak’s children. He also testified that he had seen John Miller’s Cutlass 442 “up on jacks” in Makiel’s driveway earlier that day. To rebut Makiel’s alibi defense, the prosecution called Cory and Lisa Majszak, who testified that they did not babysit with Makiel and Hlinko on the night of the murder. They testified that they babysat at Kobak’s house with Makiel and Hlinko only once, sometime after October 23, 1988. They also testified that they did not see Rodriguez on the evening they babysat with Makiel and Hlinko. The State also called a police investigator who testified that when he first Nos. 13-3076 & 13-3777 13 spoke to Rodriguez about visiting Kobak’s house in October 1988, Rodriguez did not know the exact date of the visit.