In a ruling that lashed Cook County prosecutors for "infantile" behavior and a "transparent" play to emotion rather than evidence, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered a new trial Thursday for a Death Row inmate convicted of murdering a Chicago police officer.

The court's opinion, issued without dissent, also took Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Kelley to task for failing to halt the prosecutors' misconduct and for allowing them to place in the courtroom a headless mannequin wearing the victim's police uniform, which had blood and brain matter on it. The jurors were even furnished with gloves and allowed to take the uniform into the jury room while deliberating.

Although the court called the evidence of guilt against defendant Murray Blue "overwhelming," it said a new trial was needed "to preserve the trustworthiness and reputation of the judicial process."

Justice Mary Ann McMorrow wrote the court's opinion and took the unusual step of naming the prosecutors and defense attorneys, whom the court also criticized for immature and unprofessional behavior. Typically, even when upbraiding prosecutors or defense attorneys, appeals courts spare them embarrassment by not identifying them in written opinions.

In May 1997, a jury convicted Blue of murdering officer Daniel Doffyn and of wounding another officer, Milan "Michael" Bubalo. The same jury then sentenced Blue to death. Doffyn and Bubalo were gunned down in a 1995 shootout across from the Austin District police station, where they both worked. Blue was shot in the head, but survived with what his lawyers contended was brain damage.

During the emotionally charged trial, attorneys for the two sides engaged in bickering, name calling and other behavior the Supreme Court labeled "wanting in professionalism." During a recess, one defense attorney called one of the prosecutors a "jerk." The prosecutor responded by hurling a profane epithet at the defense attorney.

The prosecutors also improperly presented evidence and arguments that focused on the loss suffered by Doffyn's family and the police force, rather than restricting their case to the evidence against Blue, the court wrote.

Assistant State's Atty. James McKay urged jurors to return a verdict that would show their support for police "from the superintendent to the newest rookie." That argument "was little more than a transparent play to the jury's sympathy and loyalty to law enforcement," McMorrow wrote.

McKay, along with Cook County State's Atty. Dick Devine and one other assistant, is currently prosecuting another high-profile case against three men charged with the murder of community activist Arnold Mireles.

The other prosecutor in the Blue case, David O'Connor, currently supervises the felony trial unit in the state's attorney's narcotics prosecutions bureau.

McKay declined to comment Thursday, and O'Connor could not be reached.

Devine's top deputy, First Assistant State's Atty. David Erickson, said Thursday that the office will retry the case against Blue.

O'Connor previously had been chastised for his conduct in another capital case. Although the Illinois Supreme Court did not order a new trial in that case, McMorrow wrote in a separate opinion that O'Connor and fellow prosecutor Timothy Joyce engaged in "degrading name calling and screaming" while prosecuting Leonard Kidd, who was sentenced to death for the murders of four people.

"There is no justification for prosecutors, who are officers of the court, to conduct a campaign of invective against a defendant, defense counsel, and witnesses who testify on behalf of the defendant," McMorrow wrote in the Kidd case.

That opinion was issued in December 1996, five months before O'Connor and McKay prosecuted Blue.

The Supreme Court ruling vacating Blue's conviction pushes the number of Illinois capital cases reversed for a new trial or sentencing hearing to 131, slightly more than half of the 261 death-penalty cases that have completed at least one round of appeals since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977, according to a Tribune analysis.

Cases involving the murder of a police officer tend to be pressure cookers, where emotions run high. Since 1977, a police officer has been a victim in 15 cases where the death penalty has been rendered. Those cases include several where the Illinois Supreme Court later concluded that police and prosecutors engaged in overzealous tactics to convict and condemn the defendant.

Andrew Wilson's original conviction for the murders of two Chicago police officers was overturned based upon evidence that police tortured a confession from him. Wilson was convicted again, but spared the death penalty.

While winning a conviction against Edgar Hope Jr. for the murder of a Chicago police officer, Cook County prosecutors engaged in racial discrimination during jury selection, the Supreme Court ruled. Prosecutors removed five African-Americans from the jury pool, resulting in a jury with no blacks on it.

Anita Rivkin-Carothers, one of the defense attorneys who represented Blue, said the prosecutors turned down an offer by Blue to plead guilty for a life term, "insisting on the death penalty and nothing less."

"And that attitude affected the way they handled themselves throughout the trial," Rivkin-Carothers said. "The conduct of the prosecutors was just outrageous."

Blue's other defense attorney, Joan Hill-McClain, said the prosecution's use of Doffyn's bloody uniform inflamed the jury and made it impossible for Blue to receive a fair trial.

"They basically had the body of this honorable cop sitting at their table. How could we deal with that? It was really a huge hurdle for us," she said.

While chastising prosecutors, the opinion also took the defense attorneys to task for "immaturity and unprofessionalism," saying they also engaged in name calling and "unnecessary bickering."

Erickson, of the state's attorney's office, said the Supreme Court's opinion gave trial attorneys clear guidance on appropriate courtroom conduct.

"The whole tone of the opinion sends a message about the way trials should proceed, the way counsel should conduct themselves and treat each other," Erickson said.

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