Thursday, February 7, 2013
The man who wore a wire and allegedly recorded a jailed Frankfort lawyer trying to hire a hit man to kill his wife was arrested in Crest Hill.
The star witness in the case against a Frankfort lawyer charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill his wife was arrested for allegedly hitting a woman. The witness, Brian McDaniel, who allegedly wore a wire to catch attorney Robert Gold-Smith's murderous plans, was booked into the Will County jail on a domestic battery charge Wednesday night. It was in that very same jail that McDaniel, 49, and Gold-Smith, 50, first met. After making Gold-Smith's acquaintance, McDaniel voluntarily wore a wire for detectives with the sheriff's department, sources said, and recorded his fellow-inmate attempting to set up his wife's murder. Gold-Smith was in jail for allegedly attacking and brutally beating his wife in a courthouse hallway in November 2010…
Friday, January 25, 2013
Attorneys for Allan Kustok, who is accused of shooting and killing his wife, want prosecutors to further justify the need for searching his cell phone, after prosecutors said new technology would allow greater access to evidence on the phone.
Whether additional evidence gathered from Allan Kustok’s cell phone is allowed in court for the murder case against him will not be decided until March at the earliest. In November, Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Gonzalez said during a hearing that technology not available in 2010, when Kustok was accused of murdering his wife Anita “Jeanie” Kustok, would allow a deeper look into data on Allan Kustok’s cell phone, including email archives and Internet use. Judge John J. Hynes asked attorneys for Kustok and prosecutors in December to make arguments as to why new evidence from Kustok’s phone should or shouldn’t be admitted, using any case law they felt would be relevant. On Friday, Hynes’ decision on whether to include the new …
Thursday, January 24, 2013
A new lawyer has joined the case of a former Oak Lawn Community High School student charged with helping to kill the mother and father of a friend.
The case against a Chicago Ridge teen charged with murder for allegedly driving the getaway car after the cowardly killing of a pal's sleeping parents was pushed back after a new lawyer jumped on board Tuesday. Chicago attorney Mohammad Ramadan entered his appearance but still has to get "up to speed" with the case against 18-year-old Mohammad Salahat, said Joel Brodsky, a lawyer already representing the teen. Salahat and three other young men—John Granat, 18, of Palos Township, Christopher Wyma, 18, of Bridgeview, and Ehab Qasem, 21, of Hickory Hills—all face murder charges for allegedly beating and stabbing Granat's parents to death in their bedroom. The four were arrested and have been held without bond at the Cook County Jail since …
Friday, January 11, 2013
The Tinley Park man jailed for allegedly bashing his wife's head in with a weightlifting bar was arrested twice before on domestic battery charges.
A Tinley Park man jailed on murder charges for allegedly bashing his wife's head in with a weightlifting bar pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday. Bahaa Sam, 47, appeared before Judge Robert Livas via a closed circuit video feed from the Will County jail. Livas allowed the public defender's office to withdraw from the case so Palos Park attorney John Eannace could enter his appearance to represent Sam. An interpreter translated the proceedings into Arabic for Sam, who is being held in lieu of $5 million bond. Sam allegedly bludgeoned his wife, 38-year-old Nermeen Sam, to death Dec. 19, clubbing her in the head at least 10 times with a weightlifting bar. Police and paramedics went to Sam's house after a Tinley Park public works …
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
“In all my relationships, I treated my partners like gold and spoiled them, which was probably a big mistake on my part,” Peterson wrote in one.
You can lock Drew Peterson up for years, but you can’t stop him from sweet-talking the ladies on the outside. Peterson, the 58-year-old former Bolingbrook cop, accused killer and serial marrier charged with murdering one wife and suspected by the Illinois State Police of having a hand in another's disappearance, sent love letters from jail to a 26-year-old DuPage County woman throughout the spring of 2010. “Hello my love,” Peterson wrote to the young woman in one of the letters recently given to Patch. “I really miss you and keep dreaming about holding you … “You still got my heart and I hope you still (have) mine.” The lovestruck Peterson’s letters, all written in pencil on lined notebook paper, depict visions of romance, freedom from the…
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
The deaths of two people found in an Orland Park home Tuesday morning has been ruled a murder suicide, following the Cook County Medical Examiner’s autopsy.
Authorities have declared the deaths of a man and woman, who were in the process of a divorce, to be a murder suicide. Angelo Lolis, 55, and Karen Lolis, 48, both of Orland Park, were found dead in a garage of a house in the 17100 block of Highwood Drive Tuesday morning. The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled that Karen Lolis was killed from an assault that resulted in a neck injury, and that Angelo Lolis committed suicide by shooting himself in chest, according to a release from the Orland Park Police Department. The two were in the middle of divorce proceedings, during which Angelo Lolis was living with his parents in Hickory Hills. Police were called about a suicide note found at Angelo Lolis’ parents’ home around 10:10 a.m. Tuesday, …
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Dazzle's owner goes to trial March 7. Also, arraignment postponed for man accused of setting fire to his family's south suburban restaurant.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. TINLEY PARK — Trial starts March 7 for Dawn Hamill, the owner of Dazzle’s Painted Pastures Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, which was raided nearly one year ago. She faces dozens of counts related to animal cruelty and neglect. More than 100 animals, including a dead cat and horse, were seized from Hamill’s Tinley Park property, which prosecutors have painted as a den of feces and urine, with inadequate space and heat. When put on the stand last month for a pretrial issue, Hamill described an environment of “healthy” and “playful” animals, though she admitted that the sanctuary had been twice cited for unsanitary conditions by the Illinois …
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Also back in court: An Aurora serviceman accused of sexual abuse might not undergo psychological testing, as requested by Marine instructor.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. FRANKFORT — The murder case against Brian Trainauskas is being delayed, pending an appeal by prosecutors that rests on whether the man’s constitutional rights were denied during a police interrogation. At the Illinois Appellate Court level, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office is challenging Circuit Judge Richard C. Schoenstedt’s ruling that sheriff’s police deprived Trainauskas of his right to counsel during an interrogation Jan. 23, 2009. Detectives allegedly kept him talking, after he asked for a lawyer, by saying a witness had identified him in a photo lineup. Prosecutors contend that Trainauskas met and spoke with detectives …
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Also back in court: men involved in shooting and home invasion in Oak Lawn, and a former Frankfort youth soccer coach accused of sexual abuse.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. OAK FOREST — Norberto Rodriguez spent much of his time before Judge Luciano Panici on Thursday looking at the floor while attorneys discussed evidence that needed further review before his murder trial could commence. The former Chicago cop is accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife in 2009. He has a history of arrests related to drugs and violence, including attempted murder, which he defeated. He’s due back in court for another pretrial hearing on Feb. 14. OAK LAWN — Pretrial criminal hearings involving three men accused of shooting a 24-year-old woman during an attempted burglary and home invasion in Oak Lawn were continued …
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Also, prosecutors looking to link alleged Frankfort burglars with footprints.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. OAK LAWN — Trial for two men charged with robbery and hate crime following the alleged beating of a lesbian woman has been pushed back one month to give attorneys more time to review evidence. In 2010, Hickory Hills police said Mohammed Shaban, of Hickory Hills, and Akram Alshoweat, of Oak Lawn, yelled anti-gay slurs while punching, kicking and whipping a woman inside a restaurant. Defense attorneys dropped a DVD into the evidence pool Tuesday that's intended to challenge the woman's presumed innocent role in the fight. Michael Monaco, an attorney for Alshoweat, said she is a former Olympic mixed martial arts fighter. A jury trial is …
Cynthia Bergier
11:32 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
Patch had a meeting and amped-up the sensational titles. They also decided to come-down on comments. more ›