Court Watch: Trial Looms for Man Accused of Knocking Another into Coma in 2009

The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week.

Leading the Docket

NEW LENOX — After two and a half years, a New Lenox man accused of beating a Joliet man into a coma may be headed for trial.

A judge is looking to conclude pretrial hearings in the case against Joseph P. Messina, accused of knocking a man unconscious outside 191 South in Mokena in 2009. Messina, who was celebrating his 21st birthday at the time, has been indicted on two counts of aggravated battery.

As bar-goers were leaving 191 South the night of July 25, words were exchanged over a T-shirt. Shoving and punching followed, and Eric Bartels fell and hit his head on the pavement, according to police reports at the time.

Several witnesses have told police Messina hit Bartels so hard that his head resonated when it smacked the asphalt. According to the police report, while the man lay unconscious Messina “struck him again in the face and then raised his arms in victory.”

Bartels suffered a fractured skull and brain damage. Police said they found Messina, a former Lincoln-Way Central High football star, hiding in the parking lot in the back of his family's van. 

The state has compiled a list of more than 50 witnesses—including police, doctors and forensic scientists—who could be called to testify.

Messina is due back in court on Feb. 24.

Cook County

EVERGREEN PARK — A man accused of has been assigned to a courtroom in suburban Skokie. Marcus A. Parker, 23, of Evergreen Park, has been indicted on charges of armed robbery, aggravated unlawful restraint, and four counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He and co-defendant Joel Shavers, of Chicago, are expected to enter a plea on Friday, Jan. 13.

OAK LAWN — A February trial date for two men charged with armed robbery and hate crime will stand, though a third and final pretrial hearing was set for Jan. 30. Prosecutors allege that Mohammed Shaban, of Hickory Hills, and Akram Alshoweat, of Oak Lawn, yelled anti-gay slurs while punching, kicking and whipping a woman they believed was a lesbian inside a Hickory Hills restaurant.

Their attorneys have dug up evidence—a DVD from her days as an Olympic mixed martial arts fighter—that is supposed to challenge the woman’s presumed innocent role in the fight.

PALOS HILLS — A Palos Hills man accused of taking  for an Alsip woman fighting cancer waived his right to a preliminary hearing, thereby sparing the state from presenting evidence that probable cause exists to bring the charges to trial. Joseph Campione, of Palos Hills, is scheduled back on Jan. 26 for arraignment. He turned himself in on Dec. 22 and posted $10,000 bond the next day.

On the Docket Next Week

MONDAY

Lazerrick Mosley will be sentenced to at least 26 years behind bars. Cook County Judge John J. Hynes found him guilty of killing and robbing a Tinley Park mechanic. Members of Mosley’s own family, including his father, testified against him late last year.

WEDNESDAY

Pretrial hearings begin for David Potter, who pleaded not guilty last month to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in a Mokena park.

Also returning in Will County court—Nicholas Gorny, who’s accused of killing a 70-year-old Tinley Park woman in a DUI accident.

THURSDAY

Norberto Rodriquez, a former Chicago cop from Oak Forest, accused of killing his estranged wife in 2010.

Three men accused of shooting a 24-year-old woman during an attempted burglary in Oak Lawn.

Darrell Stephenson, charged with multiple counts related aggravated criminal sexual abuse and possession of child porn.

Michael Angel, a former School District 210 employee, comes before a judge on the charge of obstructing justice. He has a pending criminal trespass to property case that will be heard at the end of the month.

FRIDAY

Marcus A. Parker, of Evergreen, charged with .

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