Saturday, May 11, 2013
The former Chicago Ridge deputy fire chief charged with trying to rape and kill a neighbor is tired of the cops always showing up at his parents' place.
When they let former Chicago Ridge Deputy Fire Chief Gary Swiercz out of jail, he wasn't allowed to return to the Tinley Park condo where he allegedly tried to rape and kill a neighbor. Since the woman still lives in his building, Swiercz moved into his parents' home in Worth. But that hasn't worked out so well. The high-priority electronic monitoring the county put Swiercz on requires the cops to make an in-person visit to the house once during each eight hour shift, and the repeated visits are wearing on Swiercz's elderly parents, Barbara and Stan. Swiercz's parents were they went to court and asked a judge to cut out the house checks between midnight and 8 a.m. Cook County Judge John Joseph Hynes denied the request, pointing out that …
Friday, May 10, 2013
The mother of Adam Landerman's baby daughter sobbed as she left a court hearing establishing the alleged killer's paternity.
Three months before Adam Landerman and three of his pals were charged with a grisly, nightmarish double murder on Hickory Street, a young woman from Lockport accused him of fathering her child. On Friday morning, Landerman, 19, learned he is the father of a 1-year-old. Judge Brian Barrett said a DNA test performed on Landerman in the Will County jail "came back 99.9 percent you're the father." Landerman was taken in chains from the jail so he could attend the hearing. The child's mother, Tiffany A. Rachal, sobbed as she left the courtroom after finding out Landerman is the father of her child. A woman embraced Rachal in the courthouse hallway but declined to discuss the revelation. "We're not interested in commenting today," said the woman…
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Lawyers argued about whether to unseal the files for the four young people charged with the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder.
The lawyer for one of the four young people charged with the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder urged the judge presiding over the case to keep court files sealed and out of the public eye. "No right ranks higher than the right of the accused to a fair trial," attorney Joel Murphy told Judge Gerald Kinney during a Tuesday morning hearing at the Will County Courthouse. Murphy represents Bethany McKee, 18, of Shorewood, who was charged with the murders of Eric Glover and Terrance Rankins, both 22, in January. Along with McKee, prosecutors charged three of her friends—Joshua Miner, 24, Adam Landerman, 19, and Alisa Massaro, also 19. Judge Kinney sealed the case files shortly after Patch ran a series of stories on the killings. The …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Department of Children and Family Services wants to subject the 18-month-old daughter of alleged Hickory Street killer Bethany McKee to a naked examination to see if she has been abused.
The parents of one of the four alleged Hickory Street killers have refused to let the Department of Children and Family Services strip their granddaughter naked for an examination, and the agency now wants a Will County judge to order them to hand the child over. But Judge Paula Gomora wouldn't go along with the DCFS bid to strip-check the 18-month-old daughter of Bethany McKee. Gomora said DCFS failed to provide any information about the abuse allegations they are investigating. "Maybe that's what I'm supposed to be, the rubber stamp so you can gain entry, but I'm not convinced from what's been provided that that's what I'm supposed to be," the judge told DCFS attorney Cynthia Gonzalez. "You have to give me at least something to hang my …
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Two men were found unfit to face criminal charges this week.
Not one, but two men were found unfit to face criminal charges this week. For the second time in a month, Mark Lewis, 53, was deemed unfit to stand trial for the murder of his sister, who was found beaten to death in her Naperville home in June 2011. Lewis wants to act as his own attorney if the murder case ever makes it to trial. Also wanting to act as his own attorney—and deemed unfit to face criminal charges—was 40-year-old Jason Chance of downstate Lewiston. Chance already did prison time for menacing Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow through Facebook. According to a criminal complaint, Chance threatened to rape and kill the county's top prosecutor. After his release, Chance allegedly made harassing telephone calls to a judge…
Thursday, April 25, 2013
A man charged with battering the pregnant ex-girlfriend of alleged Hickory Street killer Joshua Miner is supposed to stay away from her while he is on probation.
Ivon Walsh claimed she lost three unborn babies while enduring abuse at the hands alleged Hickory Street killer Joshua Miner, but Miner was never charged with harming her. Walsh then said a later boyfriend, 22-year-old Brandon Haggerty, "made (her) miscarry" a fourth time when he beat her in July, and for that Haggerty was sentenced to a year's probation. Haggerty, a Plainfield resident, pleaded guilty just before he was to stand trial Thursday on charges of aggravated battery to a pregnant woman and domestic battery. As part of his probation, Haggerty was ordered to stay away from Walsh. While the indictment and complaint against Haggerty mention nothing of Walsh having a miscarriage after the attack, and he did not admit to it in his …
Friday, April 19, 2013
The former girlfriend of one of the alleged Hickory Street killers says she has suffered abuse at the hands of another man.
Court papers with claims of torture and intimidation filed against one of the four alleged Hickory Street killers by a former girlfriend read like a horror story. Now the same woman who told of escaping with her life from a relationship with a "serial killer" says she has been viciously abused again, this time by another lover. Ivon Walsh, 26, filed a petition for an order of protection against the man she identified as her current boyfriend, 22-year-old Brandon Haggerty of Plainfield. "Brandon made me miscarry," Walsh wrote in her petition, which includes allegations that Haggerty threw away her coffee, choked her, banged her head off a wall, threatened to have her family's house in Joliet blown up, and held a knife to her throat. Walsh …
Saturday, April 13, 2013
One of the four charged in the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder case is getting $5,000 from the county for an expert witness.
One of the four young people charged with the brutal Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder case has been represented by no less than three private attorneys since she was arrested, but is now getting $5,000 to hire an expert witness. One of the three lawyers working for 18-year-old Bethany McKee of Shorewood convinced Judge Gerald Kinney that the county should cover the cost of a doctor to observe DNA testing. Prosecutors argued that McKee is being represented by private attorneys, but one of her lawyers, Neil Patel, countered that no one has established that he or his colleagues are actually getting paid. Kinney capped the county's payout at $5,000, and if McKee's lawyers want more money, they will have to appear before him and make …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
One of the four jailed in connection with the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murders is getting $5,000 from the county to hire an expert witness.
One of the four young people charged with brutal murdering two men from Joliet is getting $5,000 to hire an expert witness—courtesy of the county. Bethany McKee, 18, of Shorewood, got the go-ahead from Judge Gerald Kinney to pay a doctor to observe DNA testing when it is conducted at the Illinois State Police crime lab. McKee is represented by a team of private attorneys—two of whom were on hand for the Wednesday morning hearing before Judge Kinney. Will County Assistant State's Attorney Marie Czech argued that if McKee can afford all those lawyers she should have to pay for her expert witnesses as well. "She is paying for private counsel and asking the state to pay for an expert, as if she is an indigent," Czech said. But one of McKee's …
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 …
Ernie Knight
4:29 pm on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
You forget the years that the State failed to make its payments toward pensions, and spent the money on other things. You also forget the corrupt politicians allowing their cronies into public pensions through lllicit backdoors. more ›