SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A Decatur woman convicted of killing her 19-month-old son in 2019 believes the Illinois Supreme Court should allow her to have a new trial. Jessica Logan said what investigators did should constitute a retrial in Macon County.

Assistant Appellate Defender Gilbert Lenz told Supreme Court justices Tuesday that Logan deserves a new trial because law enforcement and a DCFS investigator never read her Miranda rights before they had Logan reenact her son's death in his bedroom.

"By that point in time, Jessica had already made it clear to law enforcement that she did not want to participate in this reenactment," Lenz said. "And she merely acquiesced in the request for the reenactment because she was told that she needed to do so by DCFS investigator Tate."

However, the Illinois Attorney General's office argued that a violation of Miranda rights does not violate the constitution. Assistant Attorney General Josh Schneider stressed that Logan was free to decline participation in the reenactment.

"This sort of colloquial use of need is a communication of the investigative agency's duty to inquire and investigate," Schneider said. "It is not a communication of you, the person that I'm talking to, have a legal obligation to comply."

Still, Lenz said investigators improperly obtained statements which denied Logan a fair trial.

"Investigator Tate told Jessica Logan that she needed to do this reenactment, that she needed to do this in her former apartment where she no longer lived in J.C.'s bedroom, the most distressing possible venue," Lenz said. 

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Jessica Logan in court.

During the hearing, multiple Supreme Court justices noted the large amount of evidence against the mother of two. For example, detectives searched Logan's phone and found she googled "How do you suffocate?" 16 hours before calling 911. 

"She testified that the child had been having difficulty breathing and she had medications that she was giving the child," said Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis. "Yet, the doctor testified later that that was untrue. We know that there was this issue that she had a financial situation that she couldn't pay the rent and couldn't pay the electricity. But she paid the life insurance on the child and then, right after the child died, made a claim on life insurance."

According to officials, on the early morning of Oct. 7, 2019, Logan called 911 saying her son wasn't breathing. When authorities responded to 650 E. Leafland Ave. for the call, they found the child to be cold and rigid with no signs of life shown. 

A Decatur police detective trained in 911 homicide phone call analysis had said Logan's phone call showed multiple guilt indicators. Officers who responded to the scene said Logan was crying, but her emotion seemed forced and not genuine. 

When asked if she murdered her child, police said Logan denied the charge but showed no emotion and didn't seem affected by the accusation. 

The Illinois Supreme Court took the case under advisement and could issue a decision this spring.

Logan is currently held in the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois. Her expected parole date is in 2052.

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