47 Murder Defendants In Will County Await Trial: Slow Justice?

JOLIET, IL — Next month marks three years since Jeremy Boshears was booked into the Will County Jail on first-degree murder charges in connection with the gunshot death of Woody's bartender Katie Kearns on Joliet's industrial east side.

Boshears, a member of the Joliet Outlaws motorcycle club at the time, retained Joliet's premier law firm for clients facing first-degree murder charges in Will County — Charles Bretz & Associates. That was back in November 2017.

Last week, Bretz told Joliet Patch that he does not envision Boshears will be standing trial until sometime in 2021. Boshears was 32 at the time of his arrest. Now, the Coal City resident is 35. His bail remains $10 million.

Even though Boshears has been waiting three years to stand trial and is about to begin his fourth year, his situation is hardly unique for murder cases at the Will County Courthouse.

Joliet Patch has identified nearly 50 Will County murder defendants still waiting to stand trial at the Will County Courthouse.

One -third are people such as Boshears whose charges date back to 2017 or earlier.

In the Katie Kearns slaying, next month marks the third anniversary since her family and friends alerted the news media to her suspicious disappearance. Will County police found her body in a pole barn on private property in Kankakee County near St. Anne's, roughly an hour's drive from the Joliet Outlaws Clubhouse. Kearns was shot once in the head and her body was dumped in the back of the Jeep. The Will County Sheriff's Office maintains that Kearns died at the Joliet Outlaws motorcycle gang clubhouse on East Washington Street, just up the road from Woody's, where Kearns worked on her last night alive.

So why is the case involving the Joliet Outlaws defendant moving at a snail's pace through the Will County justice system? Is the coronavirus pandemic a key factor?

Bretz told Joliet Patch that the pandemic is not an issue.

Bretz said he is the only private practice defense lawyer in Joliet to employ a full-time criminal investigator on his staff. Bretz said his lawyers and paralegals conduct rigorous investigations on behalf of their clients who are facing murder charges. He said that most all of the murder cases they accept take a minimum of two years before the cases are ready to go before a Will County jury.

At any given time, Bretz said, he is representing five to 10 different clients facing murder charges. "It's a major part of my practice and nobody wins all the cases," Bretz told Patch.

Nowadays, someone convicted of first-degree murder involving a firearm offense is looking at serving 45 years, at 100 percent of their sentence, Bretz said. In other words, a 25-year-old defendant faces being in the Illinois Department of Corrections until they're 70, and most likely, they won't live that long in prison, Bretz said.

Therefore, it's paramount for his team of lawyers, paralegals and investigators to conduct exhaustive research on behalf of their client, Bretz said.

"When you're talking about a first-degree murder case going to trial, you're almost always talking a couple years," he said. "It's absolutely the nature of the beast because the stakes are so high."

Earlier this year, Will County's judiciary announced that jury trials were being suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus concerns. However, in recent weeks, neighboring Grundy County just held a jury trial for a Joliet man charged in the deadly stabbing of a 65-year-old Morris man.

Patch reached out to the Office of Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow for comment related to the increasing number of murder cases on the backburner at the Will County Courthouse.

“The number one concern of our Office during this pandemic has been the health and safety of the people of Will County," Glasgow's spokeswoman Carole Cheney responded.

"Throughout this pandemic, our office has been working very closely with the 12th Judicial Circuit to ensure that we are serving the interests of justice while also safeguarding public health. Pursuant to Covid-related orders issued by the 12th Judicial Circuit and the Illinois Supreme Court, some trials have been rescheduled or are in the process of being rescheduled. Our office stands ready to try cases once it is deemed safe to have a jury in the courthouse.”

Aside from Bretz, Joliet's Tomczak Law Group is another private practice law firm often hired by Will County murder defendants.

Attorney Jeff Tomczak told Joliet Patch he believes the pandemic has caused the giant backlog in murder cases for Will County.

Tomczak said the notion that murder defendants must forgo a jury trial in Will County because of the pandemic, but they can still have a bench trial before a Will County judge is ridiculous and it's in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Tomczak said he is representing an 18-year-old Joliet man, Rasean Stokes, who has no violent criminal history, who is one of multiple murder defendants charged in connection with the noon-time shootout on Joliet's Republic Avenue that killed a Joliet teen in February.

Tomczak said his client was not involved in the shooting.

"With Rasean Stokes, I am resolved that this young man will not sit for two years waiting for a jury trial," Tomczak said. "I believe I have an innocent 18-year-old with a clean record charged with first-degree murder who cannot get a jury trial.

"I am never ever going to pick a jury wearing masks and I'm not going to cross examine a witness wearing a mask," Tomczak told Joliet Patch last week. In our business, a person's facial expressions are extremely important to determine credibility."

Last week, Tomczak filed a motion asking Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius to dismiss his client's first-degree murder charges on the grounds of violating due process.

Tomczak's motion stated that Will County's general order from Aug. 25 declaring that all jury trials were being delayed due to the pandemic "violates the defendant's 14th Amendment due process rights and his rights to a jury trial and most importantly, a right to a speedy trial in the same manner that the defendant may avail himself to a trial by the court."

Judge Cornelius rejected Tomczak's motion to dismiss his client's murder charges altogether. But the day was not a complete loss. A jury trial for Stokes was set for late November, according to Tomczak.

Joliet Patch has tracked down all of the pending murder cases still awaiting trial at the Will County Courthouse. The list is extensive and includes a short summary of all the cases.

Murder charges filed in 2020:

Malik Bridges, now 24, was arrested by Joliet in July in connection with the 2018 shooting death of Eric Ervins, 24, at Joliet's now-demolished Fairview Public Housing projects. Bridges has remained in Will County's Jail since Feb. 20 on unrelated charges. His total bail is $2.8 million.

Rasean Stokes, now 19, of the 1400 block of Yarrow Drive, Joliet, charged in the Feb. 7 afternoon shootout involving two cars in the 200 block of Republic Avenue. Jeremiah Frazier, 17, died two days after being shot in the head. Stokes has remained in jail since Feb. 8. His bail has been lowered to $750,000.

Jeremiah Gavin, now 22, unit block of East Clinton Street apartments, charged in the Feb. 7 afternoon shootout involving two cars in the 200 block of Republic Avenue. Jeremiah Frazier, 17, died two days after being shot in the head. Gavin has remained in jail since Feb. 15. His bail is set at $2 million.

Nathaniel Hill, 41, Pioneer Road apartment units, Crest Hill, arrested June 12 in connection with the previous night's shooting of Derrick William Scott, 32, of Joliet. Scott suffered multiple gunshot wounds as he was standing on the front steps of a Joliet house around midnight in the 1100 block of Richards Street. Hill's bail remains $5 million.

Tommie McDonald, 41, 1000 block of Joliet's Harrison Avenue, remains in custody facing $10 million bail, charged with committing the Feb. 26 double murder on Joliet's South Chicago Street of 53-year-old Bernard Marble and 45-year-old Tracy L. Williams, both of Joliet, police said. The two homicide victims were fatally shot inside Williams' vehicle.

Dartavius Payton, 24, Reverend Walton Drive, Lockport, arrested in July by Joliet in connection with the April 28 gun slaying of 20-year-old Todd Taylor in the 300 block of Grant Avenue. Bail is $2.5 million and Payton has remained in the county jail since July 5.

Kevin Johnson, 16, of Harvey was charged in June in the shooting of 19-year-old New Lenox resident Charles Baird on May 11. Baird was shot during an attempt to steal his car at Circle K gas station, 471 Nelson Road, and died from his injuries on May 13.

Richard Proctor, 25, Steger, charged with the New Year's Day stabbing death of Ryan Connell, whose body was found inside a home on Chicago Road in Steger on New Year's Day. Police said a fight appeared to have led to the stabbing. Proctor has remained in jail since Jan. 3. His bail is set at $2.5 million.

Justin Regular, 20, University Park, arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 slaying of University Park resident Chikiris G. Murphy, 23, on Jan. 6. Regular was taken into custody on Feb. 5. Bail remains set at $2.5 million.

2019 Will County murder cases still awaiting trial:

Dave Luellen, now, 26, in custody since July 25, 2019 facing $2 million in the Nov. 5, 2018 gunshot slaying in the 1400 block of Pioneer Road of Aaron Tucker, 20, of Joliet. Tucker was killed inside a car. Luellen lived in the same neighborhood where the killing occurred.

Joshua Anderson, now 21, formerly of Chicago, arrested by Joliet police on May 22, 2019, in connection with the April 30, 2019 gunshot death of 36-year-old Crest Hill resident Gregory Brown. The shooting happened in the Joliet Denny's parking lot on Plainfield Road. His bail remains $5 million.

Bobbie Ollom, now 25, of Seneca, remains a codefendant along with Anderson and Christopher Parker in the Joliet Denny's parking lot shooting death of Gregory Brown. Ollom has remained in county jail since May 22, 2019. Her bail remains $5 million.

Christopher Parker, now 24, of Chicago, remains a codefendant along with Bobbie Ollom and Joshua Anderson in the Joliet Denny's parking lot shooting death of Gregory Brown. Parker has remained in county jail since May 8, 2019. His bail remains $5 million.

Dieontae Sparks, 21, of West Barrington Lane, Plainfield, has remained in custody awaiting charges in the May 30, 2019 deadly shooting of Reginald M. Harris, 28, in Romeoville. The shooting was in the 1700 block of Sierra Trail. Sparks' bail remains set at $2.3 million.

Robert Watson, now 27, formerly of Normal, Ill., in custody since March 25, 2019 with bail at $5 million. Watson was charged in the deadly stabbing inside the Harrah's Casino Hotel of a 76-year-old Wisconsin man, who was staying at the hotel in downtown Joliet. On Aug. 13, Joliet Patch reported that a jury rejected Watson's argument that he is not mentally competent to stand trial for the slaying. At the time of the March 2019 slaying, Watson had been a transient who recently came to Joliet. He had previously lived in Arizona, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Florida and Minnesota. The violent crime was captured on the video surveillance cameras inside the Harrah's Casino.

Tatiyana Brown, now 20, of Joliet arrested by Joliet police on Sept. 25, 2019 in the March 25, 2019 gunshot homicide of Dimitri Allen in Joliet's 1100 block of Cutter Avenue. He was 26. Brown remains in custody and her bail is $1 million.

Anthony Hite Jr., now 22, of Bolingbrook, arrested Sept. 25, 2019 in the Aug. 24, 2019 shooting of 23-year-old Brandon Kines, outside his Bolingbrook house in the 300 block of Ottawa Street.

Deiontae McMillian, now 26, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, charged in February 2019 by the Will County Sheriff's Office in connection with the November 2018 death of dancer Danica Ford, 22, formerly of Concord, N.C. Ford and McMillian were acquaintances and she was working in the Schaumburg area. Her body was found Nov. 12, 2018 in a remote stretch of woodlands on Joliet's West Jefferson Street near Woodlawn Cemetery. McMillian was arrested in North Carolina in December 2018 and remains unable to post his $4 million bail.

Jonathan Middono, now 30, formerly of Plainfield Road, Crest Hill, arrested by Channahon police on June 3, 2019, in connection with the death of his 10-week-old baby girl. Patch reported that Middono, his wife, the little baby and their other child, had moved just moved from Channahon Manor Motel off Route 6 and I-55 to another area motel, the Crest Hill Inn on Plainfield Road, on May 30, 2019. Channahon Police have said they now believe the child was harmed in Crest Hill. Middono remains in custody unable to post his $2 million bail.

William Vera, now 34, of Glacier Ridge Drive, Joliet, charged with setting an intentional fire that killed Vera's 87-year-old grandmother Teresa Collado at her two-story house, 1906 Glacier Ridge Drive, on March 22, 2019. Vera's bail remains $1 million. At Vera's first court appearance, Joliet Patch reported that Vera confessed to his crime. "I did this because I have a mental disability," the Will County prisoner blurted out during that courtroom hearing.

Matthew Rutledge, 38, 800 block of Joliet's Sherwood Place, remains in custody since Dec. 21, 2019 in connection with the sidewalk shooting death of 38-year-old Quentin Woods of Joliet. The afternoon shooting occurred in Joliet's Cathedral Area. Rutledge's bail remains $2.5 million. A 35-year-old woman was shot once in the chest and she survived the shooting.

2018 Will County murder cases still awaiting trial:

Elijah Watson, now 25, of Joliet's NorthWest Circle Drive, and Anthony Francimore, now 22, of Joliet's Dougall Road, were both arrested by Will County Sheriff's Office on Oct. 29, 2018 in connection with the deadly shooting of 20-year-old Nathan Ballard in the 500 block of Joliet Township's Fox Street. "Detectives would later learn that the suspects in this case intended on robbing the victim, Nathan Ballard, and upon doing so and while driving away from the victim, several shots were fired in the vicinity of Ballard by Elijah Watson. Ballard suffered a single gunshot wound to the upper chest, from what appears to be from a semi-automatic 9 mm handgun," Will County police have announced. Bail for Watson and Francimore remains at $5 million for each of them.

Michael Kazecki, now 40, is one of the only first-degree murder defendants in Will County who remains free after his family posted 10 percent of his $2 million bail three weeks after Joliet police arrested him in the Aug. 7, 2018 death of his wife, Becky.

She died days after being found unconscious inside the family's Joliet house in the 700 block of McDonough Street. Michael Kazecki was a teacher for the past seven years at Washington Junior High School. Prosecutors told the judge that Michael Kazecki punched, kicked and struck his wife over the course of three days, from Aug. 4 to 6, 2018. Before she died, Michael Kazecki called 911 and told Joliet authorities that his wife had suffered from alcohol poisoning or that she just passed out, authorities said.

Incidentally, Kazecki's mugshot, which was archived by Joliet Patch, has been purged by the Will County Sheriff's Office, jail records show.

Peter Zabala, now 44, of Arborsedge Drive in Joliet, remains in custody without bail in the October 2018 slaying of Joliet resident Ashley Tucker, 24, whose remains were recovered from a burning barrel kept on a property just north of Joliet, in Lockport Township. Zabala has hired Chuck Bretz & Associates to represent him.

George Hooper, now 36, of West Joyce Court in Plainfield, was charged in July 2018 in connection with the beating death of a Rochelle woman found slain outside a Romeoville warehouse. Jennifer Underhill, 42, was found lying in the grass in the 1800 block of Normantown Road after Romeoville officers responded to a related report of a domestic incident, police said. Hooper's bail is $5 million and he has remained in custody since July 27, 2018.

Martell Ollie, now 26, of Joliet's 200 block of Nicholson Street, in custody since May 18, 2018 facing $5.25 million bail in connection with the fatal shooting of Donald M. Woods Jr. on Joliet's southeast side. The slaying of the 24-year-old Romeoville resident occurred around 4 p.m May 15, 2018 in the 200 block of Fourth Avenue near Sherman Street. Ollie has hired the law offices of Charles Bretz & Associates to defend him.

Daniel Briceno, now 20, 600 block of Joliet's Dover Street, remains in custody since Dec. 23, 2018 facing a $3 million. Briceno was charged in the Joliet shooting death of 19-year-old Joliet resident Jermaine Peete. A 22-year-old Joliet man also suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds. The second victim was shot in the buttocks, according to police.

Christopher Beale, now 32, of 1300 block of Joliet's Arthur Avenue, remains in custody since Oct. 1, 2018 facing $2 million in bail. Joliet Police arrested Beale, now 30, in the fatal stabbing of his estranged 28-year-old lover, Marcedes Flakes. She was stabbed in the back with a knife and she collapsed in the street outside the Fairview public housing projects. The knife pierced her heart.

Patrick Gleason, now 58, of Dearborn Street in Crest Hill, has remained in custody since March 11, 2018 facing $10 million bail in connection with the Izzy's bar shooting that killed bartender Daniel Rios. Gleason entered the bar wearing a mask and shot Rios in the back of the head and also shot the bar owner's son, who survived the gunshot wound to his stomach, prosecutors say. Gleason is being represented by Charles Bretz & Associates.

2017 Will County murder cases still awaiting trial:

Jeremy Boshears, of Coal City. His case is featured at the top of this Joliet Patch article. He is being represented by Charles Bretz & Associates. Joliet Patch reported in April 2018 that Bretz and Neil Patel were pursuing an alternative scenario, suggesting that Katie Kearns fatally shot herself inside the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse while she was high on drugs. Kearns was getting mental health treatment in Downers Grove and in Riverside around the time of her death, Patel stated. According to Patel's pretrial filing, "a good faith argument exists where the victim ... took her own life by raising a gun to her head and angled her head towards the gun and committed suicide, allowing the bullet to travel upwards into the ceiling. The defendant-alleged subsequent actions may have flowed from a fear that no one would believe what really happened."

Chris Perez, now 31, of 1300 block of Elgin Avenue, Joliet, jailed on $2 million bail since Dec. 3, 2017 following the shooting death of his 36-year-old brother Ricardo inside the family's house on Sterling Avenue. Joliet Patch previously reported that during the midnight hour, Chris Perez retreated into one of their bedrooms. He retrieved a handgun and raised the gun to Ricardo's head. Ricardo dared his younger brother to pull the trigger and shoot him, prosecutors said. Chris is accused of firing one bullet into his older brother's skull. Ricardo fell to the ground, dead.

Shanquilla Garvey, now 26, no bail, arrested by Joliet police on Dec. 20, 2017. That day, 8-month-old Cherish Freeman's mother threw her child with force into a dresser, then she shook the child, causing her death, according to the Will County State's Attorney's Office. Garvey was living at the Bel-Air Motel with three of her children for several months, Patch has previously reported.

Cherish suffered serious head trauma including multiple skull fractures. She was airlifted from St. Joe's hospital in Joliet to the Oak Lawn trauma center, where she died four days later.

Andy Cerros, now 20, of the 700 block of Joliet's Morgan Street, remained in the adult jail since Nov. 28, 2017, facing a $10 million. Co-defendant Manuel Escamilla, now 21, of the 100 block of Joliet's Hunter Avenue, has remained in custody since June 9, 2017 and his bail is $10.6 million. Cerros and Escamilla are charged with firing a flare gun that engulfed the two-story structure on North Center Street, claiming three lives: Regina Rogers, 28, her 11-month-old daughter, Royalty Rogers, and Jacquetta Rogers, 29. The intended target of the fire was Joliet gang member Rakeem "Rocky" Venson, formerly of Milwaukee, who managed to escape the fire while everyone else inside the house perished, Joliet Patch previously reported. A third defendant in the case, Eric Raya, was represented by Tomczak Law Group. Raya pleaded guilty in 2019 to the much lesser included offense of obstruction of justice, as well as an unrelated charge of aggravated battery.

Toddrick Pinnick, now 25, of the 2600 block of Joliet's Basswood Road, has remained in custody since Joliet police arrested him Dec. 30, 2016. His bail is $10.2 million. Brian Byrd, 24, was fatally shot in the head as he drove down Broadway near Ingalls Avenue the afternoon of Dec. 23, 2016. Byrd's aunt Samone Meadows said he was on his way home after Christmas shopping.

Jasper Johnson, now 34, of Chicago, arrested by Joliet police on June 5, 2017. He faces involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Johnson's girlfriend, Kia Johnson, 30, inside the Evergreen Terrace apartments in Joliet. Kia Johnson reportedly had a bullet wound to her head. "I shot her accidentally, I shot her accidentally, I shot my girlfriend," Joliet Patch reported in 2017.

Harold Robinson, now 53, of Barclay Drive in Bolingbrook, has remained in custody facing a $2 million bail since June 4, 2017. Bolingbrook police charged Robinson with the deadly stabbing in the 500 block of Jordan Way of 23-year-old Corey L. Spradley.

Murder charges filed in 2016:

Amari Morgan, now 22, of Houston Avenue in Joliet, has remained in custody since March 11, 2016 facing a $1.5 million bail and his brother Blaique Morgan, now 23, has remained in custody since Jan. 8, 2016. The Morgan brothers are charged in the January slaying of their next door neighbor, 62-year-old Robert Bielec. The Joliet man made a sexual remark to his 15-year-old next-door neighbor, prompting her older brother to bash his head in with a baseball bat, a Will County prosecutor said back in 2016.

Tariq Pinnick, now 24, of Riverview Avenue, Lockport, remains in custody since Jan. 17, 2017 facing $1 million in the Lockport Township shooting death of 22-year-old Dylan Somma in January, 2016. Pinnick fled to Georgia and was captured a year later, Patch archives show.

Javier Heredia-Rios, now 36, of Joliet's Eastern Avenue, remains in custody with a $2 million bail since Oct. 18, 2016. Police say he hit a friend over the head with a hammer, strangled him and left the body of Joliet resident Oscar Garrido-Castro, 36, in an SUV. The arrest comes less than 12 hours after Garrido-Castro's body was found in an abandoned 2004 GMC Envoy in Joliet Township.

Much older Will County cases:

Jennifer DelPrete, released on bond in 2014, after new evidence pointed to her innocence,Patch reported in 2016. DelPrete was convicted of shaking 14-month-old Isabella Zielinski while caring for her in December 2002 at a daycare center in Romeoville. The infant, who suffered severe brain damage, died 10 months later.

Santos Loza, a Joliet man twice convicted of killing an 8-month-old baby in 2008 learned in August 2019 that he would get another new trial, Joliet Patch has reported. Loza, now 40, was previously convicted of murder at a 2013 jury trial and again in 2015. Loza has remained in the Will County Jail on a $3 million since Sept. 26, 2019.

Mark Ballard, now 49, of Romeoville's Healy Avenue, has remained in county jail since Aug. 11, 2014. His bail is $2.5 million. He and his 15-year-old son Adam Ballard were both chargedwith attacking 55-year-old Richard Pollack with a baseball bat, killing him, in August 2014. Adam Ballard was only 15 years old at the time of the horrific neighborhood attack out in the street.

Mark Lewis, now 60, of Lakemoor, Ill., charged with the murder of his 59-year-old sister, Cathleen Lewis, who was found beaten to death in her Naperville home in June 2011. In 2012, Patch reported that Lewis, then 52, failed to cooperate with Dr. Randi Zoot's attempt to administer the psychological evaluation test, according to a report cited in court. Will County Jail logs list Lewis has being an inmate here in Joliet since July 28, 2015 with bail set at $1.7 million.

Rodolfo Trujillo, now 24, of Reflection Court, a Plainfield mailing address, remains in custody since Joliet police arrested him Nov. 9, 2015 in the deadly stabbing of 25-year-old Rudy Valdez. Patch reported that the stabbing centered around a dispute over $40 of marijuana. Trujillo's bail remains at $1.5 million.

This article originally appeared on the Joliet Patch