Friday, March 8, 2013
The jury took two days before returning a guilty verdict in the case of Ricardo Gutierrez.
A Chicago man charged with a 2007 Plainfield murder went to bed Thursday night with his fate in the hands of the jury. On Friday afternoon, that jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. The jury returned about 2 p.m. and convicted Ricardo Gutierrez, 23, of first-degree murder. Gutierrez gunned down Javier Barrios in October 2007. Barrios was 18 when he was killed. Barrios, a Romeoville resident, was first shot by his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Gabriela Escutia, police said. Escutia allegedly set up a rendezvous with Barrios in a field on Route 59 near a Meijer service station. Gutierrez reportedly joined her for the meeting. Guttierez's attorneys, Jeff Tomczak and Paul Napolski, said their client shot Barrios in self-defense, and that…
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Judge Edward Burmila said he was "shocked" by lawyer Joel Brodsky's conduct, and now Brodsky's license to practice law could be in jeopardy before the state's Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission.
The judge in the Drew Peterson murder case said he was "shocked" by the behavior of attorney Joel Brodsky in the aftermath of the convicted wife-killer's sentencing last month. "I've never seen an attorney comport himself the way Mr. Brodsky did," Judge Edward Burmila said during a Tuesday morning hearing at the Will County Courthouse. And Brodsky's law license may be in jeopardy now that Judge Burmila is alerting the state's Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission to Brodsky's antics. After Peterson was hit with a 38-year prison sentence for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, his former attorney, Joel Brodsky, did a WGN Morning News interview and blamed Peterson for moves he made at the trial. Judge Burmila first said he …
Friday, March 1, 2013
Judge Gerald Kinney also wants prosecutors and attorneys representing the four murder defendants to investigate the supposed leak.
The judge presiding over the Hickory Street double murder case put a gag order on all the attorneys involved and instructed them to investigate an alleged leak of police reports that led to a series of stories published by Patch. "I don't think it's inappropriate to start the process of saying, 'Where did this come from?'" Judge Gerald Kinney said during a brief hearing Friday morning at the Will County Courthouse. "I do think we need steps to get to the bottom of it," Kinney said. "I don't know who did it but I think we need to make a good faith effort to find out, and where it goes it goes." Joliet lawyer Chuck Bretz, who represents one of the four charged with last month's murder of Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, asked …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Drew Peterson was on the move again Thursday and is in another prison.
Drew Peterson wasn't one to be tied down, managing to marry four times in 29 years. And even now that he's been packed off to prison, he's still a rambling man. Peterson, 59, was transferred to his third prison since he was sentenced to serve 38 years a mere seven days ago. Peterson was whisked from the Will County jail to the Northern Reception and Classification Center on the grounds of Stateville prison the day after he was sentenced by Judge Edward Burmila. Ordinary inmates wait for the weekly bus to Stateville, but Drew Peterson is apparently no ordinary inmate, as the Will County Sheriff's Department set up a special trip to get him out quickly. Then at Stateville, where it takes an average of three weeks to two months before a …
A Chicago man was trying to protect himself and his Plainfield girlfriend when he shot her former boyfriend twice in the back, his lawyers said.
When Ricardo Gutierrez shot Javier Barrios twice in the back in October 2007, he was trying to protect his girlfriend, her young daughter and himself, his lawyers said Thursday. "It's about domestic violence. It's about self-defense. It's about fear and how people react to fear," attorney Jeff Tomczak said of what led Gutierrez, 23, to shoot Barrios, who was 18 when he died. "It's not a case of murder," said Gutierrez's other lawyer, Paul Napolski. "It's about a set of circumstances wherein a young man is forced to protect the woman he loves and the 10-month-old child he adores from the threat of immediate harm." Regardless, both Gutierrez and the woman he loves, Gabriela Escutia, 24, are up on murder charges, and Gutierrez's trial started…
Ricardo Gutierrez allegedly shot a man twice after the woman he was with shot him once.
The trial of a Chicago man jailed since October 2007 in connection with a Plainfield murder is set to start Thursday morning. Jury selection for Ricardo Gutierrez's trial started and finished Wednesday. Gutierrez, 23, allegedly gunned down Javier Barrios, who was 18 when he was killed. Barrios, a Romeoville resident, was first shot by his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Gabriela Escutia, police said. Escutia allegedly set up a rendezvous with Barrios in a field on Route 59 near a Meijer service station. Gutierrez reportedly joined her for the meeting. Escutia has confessed to shooting Barrios as he sat in his car, according to a complaint for a search warrant. After firing once, the complaint said, the gun jammed. Escutia cleared the gun but …
Friday, February 22, 2013
Drew Peterson finally got out of jail, but only so he could go to prison.
The Will County Sheriff's Department didn't wait long to send Drew Peterson off to start his "life of hardship and abuse." Less than 24 hours after Peterson spoke those words in court and was sentenced to 38 years in prison, staff at the Will County jail had the disgraced ex-Bolingbrook cop packed up, out the door and on his way to Stateville Correctional Center. "Drew Peterson's paperwork for his transfer to Stateville was drawn up within a few hours of his return to (jail) after court yesterday," Deputy Chief Brian Fink of the Will County Adult Detention Facility said in a statement Friday. "The Will County Sheriff's Office transported Mr. Peterson to the (Illinois) Department of Corrections facility at 9:22 this morning without incident…
Former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson got 38 years in prison for killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Drew Peterson held his tongue for nearly four years after being charged with the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. But just before he learned how long he was going to spend in prison, he let it all out. "I didn't kill Kathleen!" a deranged Peterson screamed from the witness stand. Savio's sister, Susan Doman, shouted back at Peterson, saying, "Yes you did," and called him a liar. Sheriff's deputies ejected Doman and Peterson, 59, was allowed to continue his rant, stopping only when he was overcome by emotion and choking back tears. Judge Edward Burmila, who as soon as Peterson was done talking sentenced the disgraced former Bolingbrook cop to 38 years in prison, warned Peterson not to indulge in another "outburst." Peterson told …
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Drew Peterson will find out Thursday if he's heading to prison or getting a new murder trial.
The lawyers for convicted wife-killer Drew Peterson argued for two days that he was deprived of a fair trial by an attorney more worried about becoming a media darling than representing his client. Now the arguing is over, and on Thursday Will County Judge Edward Burmila will decide if Peterson gets a do-over on his murder trial or will instead punch a one-way ticket to prison. Peterson attorney Steve Greenberg finished the two day hearing with an emotional argument blaming former co-counsel Joel Brodsky for single-handedly losing Peterson's murder trial. Greenberg said Brodsky disregarded advice from other attorneys on the defense team and insisted on calling the lawyer who represented Peterson's slain third wife, Kathleen Savio, during …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Drew Peterson's former attorney was called to the witness stand but wasn't asked anything about the murder trial he was blamed for losing.
Drew Peterson's longest serving attorney tried to argue his way out of testifying at a hearing to determine whether the convicted wife-killer needs a new murder trial, but couldn't dodge his trip to the witness stand. But even after attorney Joel Brodsky failed to convince Judge Edward Burmila he didn't have to testify, he wasn't asked too many uncomfortable questions about the trial he has been blamed for blowing. Instead, Peterson lawyer Steve Greenberg stuck to questions about Brodsky's financial dealings with Peterson. He also asked about a contract Brodsky and Peterson entered into with Florida publicist Glenn Selig. The ABC network paid Peterson and Brodsky $10,000 for "licensing rights" to Peterson's photographs and videos, …
mike
9:34 pm on Sunday, March 10, 2013
OH Gabriela.... the set up queen. oh don't think your the victim!! Thats why we have police. You knew what was going to go down. You're as guilty as the other scum bag. Street justice is good and all as long as you don't get caught!!! Life is full of choices, you choose the wrong one, but no worries. I'm sure some dumb as will feel bad for you while you kill your parent's because you never … more ›