Thursday, May 16, 2013
Defense attorneys want the judge who found a New Lenox man guilty of punching another man into a coma outside a Mokena bar to step down.
Hours after a Will County Judge found a New Lenox man guilty of punching another man into a coma, she received an email from the state's attorney's office. Attached to the email was a statement from Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow about the case. The judge, Sarah Jones, said she never opened the attachment, but the lawyers for the New Lenox man awaiting sentencing for the fateful punch want her off the case anyway. "It's about the appearance to everyone in the county—it's about the appearance to the citizen's of Illinois," defense attorney Dave Carlson said as he argued Judge Jones should recuse herself from the case of Joseph Messina during a Thursday afternoon hearing at the Will County Courthouse. Messina, 24, was found …
Thursday, March 28, 2013
An email from the state's attorney's office to the judge in the New Lenox coma puncher case is enough to get the convicted man a new trial, according to court papers filed by defense lawyers.
On the day a New Lenox man was to be sentenced for punching another man into a coma outside a Mokena bar, the judge announced she received an email from the prosecutor's office. Even though Will County Judge Sarah Jones didn't read the email, lawyers for convicted coma-puncher Joseph Messina say that just the fact she got it means she should start a whole new trial and leave it to another judge to decide the case. Messina, 24, was found guilty in January of punching 29-year-old Eric Bartels of Joliet outside the Mokena bar 191 South in July 2009. The attack left Bartels in a coma. Messina was set to be sentenced March 6 but his attorneys, Dave Carlson and Ken Zelazo, instead argued for a new trial based on a lack of evidence, among other …
Saturday, March 9, 2013
A Plainfield murder trial ended with a guilty verdict on the week's last day—and much, much more, in this edition of Court Supervision.
A week-long murder trial wrapped up with a guilty verdict Friday afternoon. The jury took two days to convict Ricardo Gutierrez, 23, of first-degree murder. Gutierrez gunned down Javier Barrios in October 2007 in Plainfield. Barrios was 18 when he was killed. Jury selection started Monday in the Will County Courthouse. Gutierrez's attorneys, Jeff Tomczak and Paul Napolski, said the killing was carried out in self-defense. That was just one of the things going on in court last week. There was also: Find all these stories and more on our Facebook page
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The family of Joseph Messina was distraught after a Will County judge found him guilty of punching a Joliet man into a coma more than three years ago.
Three and a half years after he was punched into a coma outside a Mokena bar, Eric Bartels sat propped in a wheelchair in a crowded Joliet courtroom. After the judge found the New Lenox man charged with striking him guilty, Bartels blinked his eyes once. "There are times when he knows what's going on," Bartels' mother, Janet Bartels of Tinley Park, said after Judge Sarah Jones delivered her verdict against Joseph Messina, 24, Thursday morning. Janet Bartels wasn't sure if that was one of those moments, but said she saw Messina going down from the start. "I knew this would be the outcome all along," she said. All along began back in July 2009 at the Mokena bar 191 South. Messina and five friends went to 191 South to celebrate his 21st …
New Lenox resident Joseph Messina faces as much as five years in prison for punching a Joliet man into a coma in July 2009.
Judge Sarah Jones found New Lenox resident Joseph Messina guilty of punching a Joliet man into a coma outside a Mokena bar in July 2009. Messina, 24, faces up to five years in prison for the attack on 29-year-old Eric Bartels. Check back for more details of the verdict and the reactions of the families.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The trial of Joseph Messina concluded Monday afternoon, and a Will County judge will hand down her verdict in January.
Nearly six months after it started, the trial of a New Lenox man charged with punching a man into a coma drew to a close Monday afternoon. But the fate of Joseph Messina won't be known until Will County Judge Sarah Jones hands down her verdict Jan. 3. Messina, 24, waived his right to have a jury decide his guilt or innocence before the trial started in June. READ: No Mistrial for Defendant in Coma Beating Case Messina allegedly punched Eric Bartels, 29, in the face outside the Mokena bar 191 South in July 2009. When Bartels fell, his head struck the concrete and he suffered a fractured skull. Bartels, who was living in Joliet at the time, suffered a fracture skull and brain damage. He is currently paralyzed and blind, and he lives in …
Friday, December 7, 2012
The lawyers for Joseph Messina, of New Lenox, are blaming one of his friends for punching Eric Bartels in July 2009, a blow that left him paralyzed. That buddy, however, is pleading the Fifth.
A bombshell witness took the stand in the case against New Lenox man Joseph Messina and accused one of their pals of throwing the fateful punch that put a Joliet man into a coma. Steve Raymond, of Frankfort, blamed mutual friend Michael Glielmi of punching Eric Bartels in July 2009. "This is what people don't know," Raymond said. "I saw Mike Glielmi punch Eric Bartels." READ: No Mistrial for Defendant in Coma Beating Case For his part, Glielmi, 24, showed up in court with Joliet attorney Steven Haney, who said his client would plead the Fifth Amendment if called to testify. "The advice is he's going to invoke his right to remain silent," Haney told Judge Sarah Jones. Haney told the judge that it was his "understanding" that Glielmi could …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Joseph Messina, of New Lenox, is accused of hitting a man in 2009, putting him in a coma and leaving him with massive head trauma.
The trial of a New Lenox man charged with punching another man into a coma started more than five months ago, and on Wednesday it was back on with testimony from three state police scientists. The scientists were questioned about blood evidence in the case against 24-year-old Joseph Messina, who allegedly beat a man into a coma outside the Mokena bar 191 South back in July 2009. READ: Coma-Puncher Raised Arms in 'Victory' Messina's trial began in June but the high-profile murder prosecutions of wife-killer Drew Peterson and Christopher Vaughn—the Oswego man who executed his wife and three children—forced the postponement of his case. Now, with both Peterson and Vaughn being found guilty, the Messina case is back on. Messina, who is free on…
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Janet Bartels, of Tinley Park, filed a lawsuit against Silver Cross and Provena St. Joseph's hospitals on behalf of her son, who suffered massive head trauma in a 2009 Mokena bar fight. The suit accuses the medical centers of negligence.
The Tinley Park mother of a Joliet man who was put in a coma after a 2009 bar fight filed a lawsuit on her son's behalf against two hospitals Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune reports. READ: Check Out the Full Story in the Chicago Tribune for More Details The suit by Janet Bartels claims two doctors and Silver Cross Hospital, then in Joliet (it moved to New Lenox this year) and Provena St. Joseph's Medical Center, also in Joliet, were negligent and didn't properly talk to first responders after her son was injured in the attack, the Tribune reported. Eric Bartels, 29, suffered massive head trauma and continues to endure debilitating effects after Joseph Messina, 24, of New Lenox, allegedly knocked Bartels to the ground with a single punch …
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The trial of a New Lenox man charged with punching a Joliet man into a coma outside a Mokena bar will resume next month.
The bench trial of a New Lenox man charged with punching a Joliet man into a coma outside a Mokena bar took a back seat to two of the most notorious and highly publicized murder cases in Will County's history. But the trials of wife-murderer Drew Peterson and quadruple-killer Christopher Vaughn are over now, and the case of Joseph Messina is back on. Messina, 24, allegedly knocked 29-year-old Eric Bartels of Joliet to the ground with a single punch outside the Mokena bar 191 South in July 2009. Bartels has been in a coma since. After Bartels fell, a witness testified previously, Messina straddled him, punched his face again, then "raised his arms above his head in victory." The police arrived quickly and found Messina hiding between the …
Dede
11:02 am on Saturday, May 18, 2013
Baba Wawa, I realize new trial motions are not rare. I was just commenting on the reasons used lately. Why get nasty about it? I didn't think that's the purpose for this site. more ›