Joliet Murder Case For Toddrick Pinnick Takes 9 Years, Jury Trial Won't Happen This Week After All

JOLIET, IL — As murder defendant Peter Zabala is slated to go on trial later this week on the fifth floor of the Will County Courthouse, a completely different murder trial was also set to begin on Monday with jury selection for Toddrick Pinnick of Joliet.

But just before 2:30 p.m., the Will County State's Attorney's Office told Joliet Patch that Monday's jury selection for Pinnick's murder trial has now been delayed until March 2.

Now 31 years old, Pinnick has been living in the Will County Jail since Dec. 30, 2016, after the Joliet Police Department booked him into custody.

According to a 2016 crime story from Patch reporter Joe Hosey, Pinnick was taken into custody in the parking lot of a Crest Hill Domino’s Pizza — more than nine years ago.

Pinnick was in the passenger seat of a white Saturn and had a handgun at his feet on the floor, Joliet police said at the time of his arrest.

The handgun reportedly matched the caliber of the weapon that killed 24-year-old Brian Byrd two days before Christmas. Byrd was shot in the head as he drove down Broadway near Ingalls Avenue the afternoon of Dec. 23, 2016. Byrd’s aunt Samone Meadows said he was on his way home after Christmas shopping.

“Whoever did this, they deserve to be punished,” Meadows said of her nephew’s killer.

According to the 2016 Patch story, Byrd and Pinnick had been feuding for more than a year, Joliet police said. Detectives linked Pinnick to the killing after gathering and poring over surveillance video from cameras mounted along Broadway and its side streets, police said. The video reportedly showed a Jeep Cherokee connected to Pinnick that was involved in the gun attack.

This week's jury trial was to take place in Courtroom 503 of Will County Judge Art Smigielski.

Zabala's murder trial, for the October 2018 slaying of Joliet 25-year-old Ashley Tucker, will have jury selection begin on Wednesday in Courtroom 502 of Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre.