Retired Joliet Police Sergeant Vindicated, 4 Charges To Be Dismissed
JOLIET — Back in 2020, several members of the Joliet Police Department command staff of now-former Chief Al Roechner orchestrated criminal charges against one of their own, Sgt. Javier Esqueda, who exposed the controversial in-custody death of Black resident Eric Lurry and accused his fellow police officers and supervisors of engaging in misconduct and concealing evidence surrounding the 37-year-old Joliet resident’s death.
On Monday, more than four years after Esqueda was branded a criminal by his own Joliet Police Department, he was set to finally have his trial at the Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville. Now, however, that trial is not expected to happen, Joliet Patch has learned.
Late Friday, Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis filed a motion with Kendall County Judge Jody Gleason seeking to immediately dismiss the four felony counts that he filed against Esqueda in late 2020.
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Kendall County Judge Jody Gleason will take up the prosecution’s motion on Monday morning, which coincides with the same date that Esqueda’s criminal trial is supposed to begin.
During the previous few years, Esqueda’s criminal case was before Kendall County Judge Robert Pilmer, but the case got reassigned to Judge Gleason in August.
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Back in the summer of 2020, then-Joliet police Sgt. Esqueda released the video of Lurry dying in Joliet police custody. Joliet police Sgt. Doug May, Lt. Jeremy Harrison, former cop Andrew McCue and Officer Jose Tellez remain defendants in the ongoing federal police misconduct lawsuit brought against them by Nicole Lurry, whose husband died Jan. 29, 2020.
On July 30, 2021, Esqueda was named the national recipient of the 2021 Lamplighter Award for Moral Courage in Law Enforcement. “The Lamplighter Project commends Sergeant Esqueda for his courage. The world would be a darker place without lamplighters like Sergeant Esqueda. Lamplighters not only shed light on corruption, injustice, and misconduct, but serve as shining examples to other enforcement officers around the country who bear witness to violations of their oath.”
Meanwhile, Friday’s court filing from Weis to dismiss his criminal prosecution against Esqueda indicates “The defendant was charged with a two-count bill of indictment with the offenses of official misconduct and computer tampering based upon an investigation conducted by the Joliet Police Department.
“While the case has been pending, the People have received additional materials which were not originally tendered to the State’s Attorney’s Office, which have caused our office to reevaluate the evidence in this case,” Weis stated in his filing.
“Additionally, the United States Supreme Court has issued, subsequent to the charging of this matter, a ruling that impacts the ability to successfully prosecute this case.
“While I believe that probable cause existed for the charges at the time the case was filed, a review of all materials now known to the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office leads me to conclude that my office would not be able to sustain our burden of beyond a reasonable doubt if the matter were to proceed to trial.
“Therefore, I am hereby moving to dismiss the charges against the defendant instanter.”
Tomczak and Esqueda had asked for a bench trial before Kendall County judge Jody Gleason instead of having a jury trial. The two-day trial was on the docket to take place on Monday and Tuesday.
In October 2020, Joliet criminal defense attorney Jeff Tomczak announced that he would be representing Esqueda in Kendall County.
“What is most sad about this is that this is a clear message from Chief Roechner to the frontline officers that should they see actions they believe are misconduct by fellow officers, they must keep their mouths shut and stay quiet or they will be charged with a felony,” Tomczak told Joliet Patch’s editor more than four years ago. “I also have no doubt in my mind that these charges were shopped around and Will County prosecutors declined, as they should, so they went shopping in Kendall County and were able to find a prosecutor to file these bad charges.
“I am anticipating winning, and I am anticipating this case ends with a big fat federal judgment against the city of Joliet and every officer involved in these charges,” Tomczak told Joliet Patch during his October 21, 2020, interview.
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