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.
Friday, March 22, 2013
A Lakemoor man charged with murdering his sister in her Naperville home was found unfit to stand trial.
A Lakemoor man jailed the last year and a half on charges he beat his sister to death in her Naperville home was found unfit to stand trial for her murder. Mark Lewis, 53, asked Will County Judge Daniel Rozak for permission to "say something" after the judge found him psychologically unfit during a Friday morning hearing. Rozak refused him. Lewis' 59-year-old sister, Cathleen Lewis, was found slain in her Worthington Drive residence in June 2011. Mark Lewis was charged with murder, home invasion and residential burglary in connection with her death. He was taken into custody in Pensacola, Fla., and fought extradition before he was transported to the Will County jail to await trial. Mark Lewis also faces identity theft charges for allegedly…
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
If you've got wit, add your caption to Patch's weekly comic challenge and win a personalized print.
Are you blessed with insight and good humor? Or just bored today? Share your wit with your neighbors by entering Patch's comic caption challenge. Just add your dialogue for today's comic in the comment section of this post. Our only requirement is that you keep it clean! At week's end, we'll pick the winning punchline based on how many of us here at Patch giggle and smile at your contribution. The user who produces the winning punchline will get a personalized proof of the comic, with the winning words and a credit line, from cartoonist Chuck Ingwersen and Patch. Congratulations to Suzanne Matthies, who provided the winning punchline to last week's Poker Dog cartoon: You may have a great poker-face, but your tail says it all.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
The DeKalb County and Lake County courthouses have also been cleared for cameras.
Three more counties have been cleared to have cameras inside their courthouses. The Illinois Supreme Court announced that cameras in courtrooms have been approved for the new 23rd Circuit, which included Kendall County and DeKalb County, and in Lake County in the 19th Circuit, according to a story in the Elgin Courier-News. According to the story, "Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon has said he expects to have cameras operating in Kane courtrooms sometime this year." The Illinois Press Association has reported that is up to the chief judge in each the state's 23 circuits to decide whether to allow courtroom cameras. "The policy will allow for up to two video cameras and two still cameras in a courtroom at the same time. Cameras would…
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Drew Peterson was in court last week trying to get a new trial, and there were a few other people with cases too.
Drew Peterson was brought into a courtroom packed with reporters and had a hearing to set the date for another hearing to see if he can have a do-over of his murder trial. That was the biggest thing going on at the Will County Courthouse last week, but it wasn't the only thing. Let's look at what else was going on in the week that was:
Thursday, January 10, 2013
A two-day hearing was set to determine whether wife-killer Drew Peterson will get another murder trial.
Drew Peterson's murder trial lasted 24 days. Now the wife-killer's looking forward to a two-day hearing to see if he gets to do the whole thing over again. Judge Edward Burmila scheduled the hearing for Feb. 19 and 20. If the judge decides after those two days not give Peterson a new hearing after all, Burmila said he will head straight to sentencing. Peterson, 59, faces up to 60 years in prison for the March 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Prosecutors have subpoenaed Peterson's second wife, Victoria Connolly, and one of his five sons, Eric Peterson, to testify against him at the sentencing hearing. Connolly has said Peterson threatened to kill her and make her death look like an accident. She also told of Drew Peterson …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The case of a Tinley Park man who allegedly beat his wife to death with a weightlifting bar was just one of the thing's going on at the Will County Courthouse this week.
The Tinley Park man charged with beating his wife to death with a weightlifting bar had his bond set at $5 million. And if Bahaa Sam, 47, comes up with $500,000 cash he needs to secure his release, he must turn in both his American and Egyptian passports, Will County Judge Roger Rickmon ordered at Sam's bond hearing Thursday. Sam allegedly bludgeoned his wife with a weightlifting bar after they argued over his lack of employment. Sam's wife, 38-year-old Nermeen Gamal Sam, had bitten her husband's finger when he blocked her from leaving the house, police said. Sam then murdered his wife in front of their 4-year-old son, police and prosecutors said. But that wasn't the only thing going on at the Joliet courthouse, although it may have been …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Authorities shared numerous disturbing details about the murders on Thursday morning, including that Plackowska forced the children to get on their knees and pray before she stabbed them up to 100 times.
Prosecutors said 40-year-old Elzbieta Plackowska told her 7-year-old son Justin and 5-year-old Olivia Dworakowski to get on their knees and pray before fatally stabbing both children nearly 100 times. The two young children pleaded for their lives as the woman killed her son first and then Olivia, stabbing them and slashing their throats, before also stabbing two dogs to death inside a townhouse in the 800 block of Quin Court in Naperville on Tuesday night, prosecutors said. Plackowska was charged Wednesday night with two counts of first-degree murder. She appeared in DuPage County Court on Thursday morning, where Judge John Kinsella ordered that she be held without bond. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 21. …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
A Pennsylvania man famous for filing bizarre lawsuits is now part of the Drew Peterson case.
OUTSIDE CHICAGO -- Former federal prisoner Jonathan Lee Riches has sued Bill Belichick, George W. Bush, Steve Jobs and Perez Hilton, and now he's filed a motion in the Drew Peterson case claiming he was the convicted wife-killer's lover. "Drew Peterson and I were in a sexual relationship in the 1990's and Drew forced me to commit identity theft to finance his sexual lifestyle," Riches wrote to the court in a "motion for the right to be heard under the victims rights act." Riches claims he used a stolen credit card to "buy Drew Peterson a sex outfit from adam & eve of officer friendly and Drew forced me to wear it for him while we watched the 1980's police academy series and Drew used to call me hightower and Drew and I went to dance …
Skb
4:41 pm on Thursday, April 25, 2013
I'm am quite sure the 16 year old wasn't raped and consented. The old lady was being nice and got raped for it. To compare the two is idiotic. Expect nothing less from crook county residents. more ›