Danny Rios Murder: Jury Verdict Reached After Prosecutor Finishes Closing Argument

JOLIET, IL — The man accused of the murder of Izzy's bartender Danny Rios III has been found guilty. After deliberating for less than 30 minutes, a jury convicted Patrick Gleason on all three charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery.

Gleason will be back on court for sentencing on Nov. 18. He faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 45 years, according to his defense attorney.

At 2:05 p.m. Wednesday, the Will County jury deciding the guilt or innocence of first-degree murder defendant Patrick Gleason retired to their jury room to start their deliberations. At 2:32 p.m., Joliet Patch was notified that the jury reached a unanimous verdict.

For the past two weeks, Gleason stood trial in Courtroom 404 of Judge Vincent Cornelius for the March 9, 2018, fatal shooting of Izzy's bartender Danny Rios III, the attempted murder of Izzy's customer Artis Henderson and the aggravated battery of Izzy's son, Thomas Izquierdo, who suffered a gunshot to his stomach during a struggle to remove the gun from Gleason's hands.

Prosecutor James Zanayed handled the closing arguments for the Will County State's Attorney's Office, and he showed the jury a timeline of events.

At 8 p.m. March 8, 2018, Gleason went to the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet to watch the REO Speedwagon concert. He was accompanied by his date, Pamela Griffin. At the show, Gleason and Griffin each sneaked in a bottle of booze to consume during REO's concert.

10:45 p.m.: Gleason drove Griffin to Izzy's Bar on Theodore Street, and they went to the bar.

11:12 p.m.: Gleason has his first cigarette smoking incident. He's told that smoking cigarettes inside the bar is prohibited.

11:52 p.m.: Gleason has his second cigarette incident in the bar.

12:19 a.m. March 9, 2018: Gleason has his third cigarette incident in the bar, and now it's three strikes and he's out.

12:23 a.m.: Gleason and his date leave Izzy's, but not before one of the regulars, Anthony Sraj, confiscated Gleason's jacket and banged it against a wall to see if Gleason had any guns. Gleason made repeated threats about shooting up the bar and shooting this place up after not being allowed to smoke his cigarettes inside the bar. For the next 47 minutes, Gleason remained angry about being kicked out of the bar, having his coat confiscated and being told he could not light up.

"He's angry, he's pacing back and forth" at home," Zanayed reminded the jury. "He won't let it go. He couldn't. He could have gone to sleep, but he did not."

1:10 a.m.: Gleason returns to the bar alone, this time with a "horrid mask" concealing his face, and he's also wearing gloves. Gleason waited in the vestibule of the bar for several minutes, gripping his handgun and checking his magazine.

During the trial, the prosecutors played for the jury a graphic video of the shooting showing Rios being shot in the face and falling to the ground as Gleason then stepped over him, eager to shoot at more people still gathered inside the bar.

"That horrid mask," Zanayed emphasized. "You saw it. You watched him raise the trigger with your own eyes. You've already seen what happened when he raised that gun to Danny's face and left him lying there dying on the cold floor near the bathroom."

In an astonishing decision, Gleason's lawyer, Jeff Tomczak of Tomczak Law Group, told the jury and the judge that he was not presenting any closing arguments on behalf of his client. Tomczak said that offering any closing arguments would be futile, given Judge Cornelius' rulings the previous day, in regard to the jury instructions. Although Joliet Patch was in court when the judge ruled that the jury would be given an instruction allowing them to consider a second-degree murder conviction, the judge later called the attorneys back at the end of the day to notify them he was changing his mind and only allowing the jury to consider first-degree murder, guilty or not guilty.

The judge's decision infuriated Tomczak. After the trial ended, Tomczak told Joliet Patch in the courthouse lobby that he and his law partner CJ Haney believed that Gleason's convictions will be overturned very soon on an appeal because the judge was not fair and did not allow his client a fair jury trial.

Tomczak said Wednesday marked the first time in 40 years as a lawyer that he has ever refused to put on a closing argument in a criminal case.

"I've never waived closing arguments in 40 years. We've been denied every jury instruction we proposed. Based on the evidence, while some might consider the evidence overwhelming, Pat still deserved a fair trial. Judge Cornelius, by his rulings, did not give Pat a fair trial," Tomczak told Joliet Patch. "I suspect because of his rulings, this case will be back for retrial and that's really sad for everybody, including the victim's family."

Patch asked Tomczak if he was optimistic about getting Wednesday's trial verdicts overturned.

"Under the circumstances of this case, if I was not optimistic about getting a reversal on appeal, I would have done my closing argument as I did in every single jury trial case for 40 years. This case, I didn't do it because of the fact that there's very serious reversible errors that were committed in this case in the rulings of Judge Cornelius, who completely and totally denied Patrick a fair trial regardless of whether it's on video or there's overwhelming evidence. Everybody deserves a fair trial, even Patrick Gleason," Tomczak remarked before exiting the courthouse.