Izzy's Bartender Murder Trial: Attorney Jeff Tomczak Calls For Picking New Jury 'Tomorrow'

JOLIET, IL — The first-degree murder trial for Patrick Gleason in the gunshot death of 52-year-old Izzy's bartender Daniel Rios III got off to a slow start Thursday after defense attorney Jeff Tomczak argued unsuccessfully for a mistrial.

Before the prosecution presented any more witnesses, Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius took up Tomczak's arguments seeking a mistrial outside the jury's presence. Tomczak argued that the Will County State's Attorney's Office, led by prosecutor Adam Capelli, has conducted an improper foundation in terms of the rules of trial evidence, so far.

Tomczak was especially angry with the prosecution's presenting of a 17-second videotape to the jury on Wednesday afternoon surrounding the shooting of Izzy's son, Thomas Izquierdo, in the stomach. Thomas survived the shooting after being hospitalized for two weeks.

Tomczak argued the prosecution not showing the entire video camera footage of the incident inside Izzy's Bar on the night of March 8-9, 2018, hampered his ability to provide his client with a fair trial.

Thomas Izquierdo testified he arrived at the bar around 8:40 or 8:45 p.m. The shootings happened about four and a half hours later.

In calling for a mistrial, Tomczak argued that he and his law partner, CJ Haney, were ready to return to the Will County Courthouse on Friday morning to pick a new jury and start the trial all over again. Tomczak insisted that he does not want to delay Gleason's trial any longer. Gleason has been in the Will County Jail for seven-and-a-half years waiting for his trial to happen.

In Courtroom 404, Tomczak outlined his displeasure with how the prosecution also only played an eight-minute portion of Izzy's video surveillance camera system during Wednesday's trial testimony of Artis Henderson, the former Marine and ex-California bartender, who hid underneath a set of chairs and tables as Gleason tried to shoot him at point-blank range, seconds after killing bartender Danny Rios inside the entrance, at around 1:10 a.m. on March 9, 2018.

"We can't put Henderson back in the bag," Tomczak argued, raising his voice during Thursday's mistrial arguments. "I was limited, and I should not have been."

Tomczak argued that prosecutors have about a half-dozen different 30-minute-long videos of Izzy's surveillance cameras footage captured from the night of the shootings. But rather than play the entire videos for the jury, Tomczak argued, the prosecution has "chosen short excerpts.

"We're doing excerpts. What's lost in cross-examination in this case, I'm without being able to utilize all of the videos ... I cannot properly cross-examine ... I'm willing to pick a jury tomorrow. I sincerely mean that," Tomczak complained.

Prosecutor Adam Capelli argued that he and the Will County State's Attorney Office have done nothing improper in terms of their trial strategy so far this week in laying out their murder case against Gleason.

"To declare a mistrial now, judge, because he can't cross-examine witnesses, is false. There's nothing that says we have to play the entire video of what we have," Capelli told Judge Cornelius.

Capelli pointed out that the video he showed of the shooting events involving Henderson hiding under the tables and disarming Gleason was about eight minutes long.

"Artis testified to relevant portions of video" eight minutes in length, Capelli noted.

Judge Cornelius issued his ruling around 11:05 a.m. rejecting Tomczak's motion seeking a mistrial.

"You have every right to do what you want with those videos ... they're entitled to control that," Judge Cornelius said in ruling on the request for a mistrial. "The court finds this is typical trial strategy and not improper."

After Thomas Izquierdo finished testimony, the prosecution called the forensic pathologist for the Will County Coroner's Office, who examined Rios' body. He told the jury that the bullet was found lodged in Rios' neck, and he removed the bullet during the autopsy.

Rios died from a single gunshot wound that went through his chin, the expert witness testified.

The trial will resume in Courtroom 404 at 1:30 p.m.

Related:

• Joliet's Danny Rios Murder: 'He Just Said He Was Very Sorry, Something Bad Happened To My Brother'
• 7 Years Since Joliet Bartender Danny Rios' Murder
• Izzy's Murder Defendant Faces $10 Million Bail
• 'Hero' Sues Izzy's Murder Defendant Patrick Gleason
• Pat Gleason Drank 'Big Bottle Of Crown Royal' Before The Murder: JPD