Thursday, May 16, 2013
A Will County judge ruled Thursday that Bahaa Sam is sane enough to stand trial for allegedly beating his wife to death with a weightlifter's bar.
A Tinley Park man charged with beating his wife to death with a metal bar while their young son watched was found sane enough to stand trial for her murder. Bahaa Sam, 47, appeared before Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak Thursday morning and learned an evaluation of his mental state showed he is fit to face the murder charges. READ: Tinley Park Man Charged With Beating Wife to Death Pleads Not Guilty An interpreter translated the proceedings into Arabic for Sam, who is being held at the Will County jail in lieu of $5 million bond. Sam was represented by Palos Park attorney John Eannace. Police and paramedics went to Sam's house in December after a Tinley Park public works employee spotted the body of Sam's wife, Nermeen Sam, next to a…
Saturday, April 20, 2013
A former Plainfield North gym teacher pleaded guilty to meeting a teen for sex. And that was just one of the things going on in court this week.
More than two years after the police caught her in a car with a half-dressed student from the high school where she was a teacher, Ashley Blumenshine copped a plea. Blumenshine, a 30-year-old former Plainfield North gym teacher, will have to do 11 days in jail. She will also spend two years on sex offender probation and 10 yeas on the Illinois sex offender registry. She tearfully apologized before she was taken into custody to start doing her time. Let's look at what else was going on in the area's courthouses this past week: Check out all these stories and more on our Facebook page.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
A New Lenox man spoke of his "horrific" ordeal in the county jail after he was arrested for a murder someone else was wanted for.
We started the week off by talking with the New Lenox man jailed for two weeks for a murder allegedly committed by someone else with the same name. Pedro Hernandez, 67, said his time in the Will County jail was "horrific," and that he's looking for a lawyer to talk to about filing a lawsuit. But Hernandez's ordeal was just one of the things going on last week. There was also: Check out all these stories and more on our Facebook page.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
There's not going to be a special prosecutor or a special hearing in the Hickory Street double murder case. At least not yet.
It was another week abbreviated by a court holiday. But even with just four days instead of five, there was plenty going on at the area's courthouses. In Joliet, we had one of the defense lawyers in the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder case asking for a special hearing to find out how Patch obtained police reports no other news outlet seems able get their hands on. The Will County judge presiding over the case didn't go along with it, at least not for the moment. The judge did say he may revisit the issue of a special evidentiary hearing in the future. Attorneys representing the two young men and two young women charged with brutal murdering Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, backed off on their request for a special …
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The alleged triggerman jailed in connection with last week's 7-Eleven parking lot murder appeared at the Bridgeview courthouse and was sent back to jail without a bond.
The Markham teen charged with gunning down a man he met through Craigslist to barter electronic equipment appeared at the Bridgeview courthouse Tuesday morning and was sent back to jail without a bond. READ: Markham Teen Charged With Murder in 7-Eleven Shooting Christopher Dyson, 18, faces murder and armed robbery charges in connection with Thursday's fatal shooting of 24-year-old Thomas Mastro of Tinley Park. Dyson and Mastro reportedly met outside a Tinley Park 7-Eleven so Dyson could trade his iPhone for Mastro's Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita. The deal reportedly was set up after Mastro posted an ad on Craigslist. READ: Tinley Park Man Fatally Shot in Argument in Store Parking Lot Dyson tried to rip Mastro off, then pulled a gun …
Saturday, March 2, 2013
The judge for the Hickory Street double murder case doesn't want anyone talking.
The Hickory Street double murder case took a surprising twist this week when one of the defense lawyers complained about stories in Patch and the judge ordered the attorneys involved not to talk to the media. Will County Judge Gerald Kinney also sealed the file for the case against accused killers Adam Landerman, 19, Joshua Miner, 24, Alisa Massaro, 18, and Bethany McKee, also 18. The four were charged with murdering Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, in Massaro's house on Hickory Street in Joliet. Judge Kinney said he wants both defense attorneys and prosecutors to investigate who allegedly leaked police reports. The judge said he will revisit the issue on March 11. Here's what else was going on in the area's courthouses last week…
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The week was packed with Drew Peterson, but it looks like we're not going to be seeing so much of him anymore.
It was Drew Peterson all day every day in the week that just ended. It started out with a hearing to see if he needs to have a new murder trial, and that hearing went on for another two days. A college professor and a retired judge both got on the witness stand and told how former Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky not only failed to provide effective counsel at this summer's murder trial, but also committed an ethical violation by entering into a publicity contract with his client. Brodsky's former law partner got up as well and claimed Brodsky physically attacked her in the Chicago office they shared. Even Brodsky had to testify, and told all about the 11 cents he and Peterson made off a website set up to solicit donations for the disgraced …
Saturday, February 9, 2013
The friends and families of two slain Joliet men saw their alleged killers in the flesh for the first time.
Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover were strangled to death nearly a month earlier, but just this week their friends and family finally got an in-person glimpse of the two young men and two young women charged with killing them. Adam Landerman, 19, Alisa Massaro, 18, Joshua Miner, 24, and Bethany McKee, 24, were brought to court together for their arraignments Tuesday morning. Each of the four faces six counts of first degree murder in connection with the slaying of Rankins and Glover, both 22. It was the second court appearance for Landerman, Massaro, Miner and McKee, but they were not in court for the prior date. They made that appearance via a closed circuit video hookup from the Will County jail. That was only one of the things going on …
Saturday, February 2, 2013
We could swear we've seen some of these people around here before.
So it's Groundhog Day. This whole week felt like Groundhog Day. Day after day we seemed to be seeing the same people over and over. Maybe our minds were playing tricks on us. Or maybe not. Just look, on Friday we had one of the lawyers representing Drew Peterson in court trying to get former Peterson lawyer Joel Brodsky to give up his financial records. Peterson and Brodsky have been haunting the courthouse for years now. Peterson has been found guilty of murder, and Brodsky no longer represents the convicted wife-killer, but it doesn't look like they've really gone away. And Margarita Hernandez, who faces charges she set up a sex date with a teenage boy, was in court not once, but twice last week. The first time, her trial was scheduled …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
A two-day hearing was set to determine whether wife-killer Drew Peterson will get another murder trial.
Gym shoe
4:06 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
Because the laws are to easy .nobody gets punished for anything anymore. Get caught stealing in one of those foreign countries and they cut off your hand. They don't fool around with you. more ›