Joliet Murder Defendant Who Has Avoided Standing Trial Loses Latest 'Irrelevant' Motion: Judge

JOLIET, IL — Michael Kazecki, the Joliet first-degree murder defendant who has remained free thanks to the now-abolished cash bail system, has lost his most recent pretrial filing, Will County Judge Amy Christiansen ruled earlier this month.

For more than seven years now, Michael Kazecki, the ex-Joliet Public School District 86 teacher at Washington Junior High School, has remained successful at making sure that his murder case does not go to trial at the Will County Courthouse.

Upon regaining his freedom after spending only three weeks in the Will County Jail in August 2018, Kazecki returned to his roots, leaving his house in the 700 block of Joliet's McDonough Street, where he is accused of beating his wife Becky to death, and moving back to his parents' residence in suburban Oak Lawn.

At the time of Becky Kazecki's beating death in early August 2018, her husband's family hired downtown Joliet attorney Nathaniel Tate of the Edward Jaquays law firm to represent their son in his first-degree murder case brought forward by the Joliet Police Department and Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow.

According to court files, one of the main reasons that the murder of Becky Kazecki has dragged on for her family for over seven years now is because Michael Kazecki and his lawyer Tate have deployed a legal strategy of filing irrelevant motions with the judge.

By doing so, some of their motions often take several months — if not years — before the judge hears all the evidence and is able to issue a ruling.

Michael Kazecki's murder case is now on his second judge, as the original judge Dan Rippy, is now assigned to other cases in a different part of the Will County Courthouse. The new judge on the case is former Will County Public Defender Amy Christiansen.

Last week, Judge Christiansen dealt Kazecki and Tate a legal setback by concluding that their latest pretrial motion had no legal merit whatsoever.

"It has not been proven that any videos that might or might not have existed outside of the interrogation room and in the lobby of the Joliet Police Department in August of 2018 would contain any audio," Judge Christiansen ruled last week. "Any conversations between Detective (Dave) Jackson and Sergeant (Scott) Nicodemus regarding Mr. Tate's representation of the defendant is irrelevant," Judge Christiansen pointed out.

The judge's ruling also noted that "The only relevant issue regarding Mr. Tate's representation of the defendant is the conversation between Detective Jackson and the defendant inside of the interrogation room, which was captured on video and has already been ruled upon."

In late June, Joliet Patch reported that unlike most of Joliet's first-degree murder defendants, Michael Kazecki has maintained his freedom during the past seven years under the now-abolished Illinois bail bond system. Republican Will County Judge Ben Braun rejected arguments from the Will County State's Attorney's Office back in 2018, seeking to establish a $5 million cash bail for Kazecki.

Instead, the judge gave Kazecki a $2 million bail. Kazecki's family posted the necessary 10 percent bond of $200,000 and Kazecki only spent about three weeks in Will County's Jail before regaining his freedom.

In addition to ruling against Michael Kazecki and lawyer Tate on Oct. 2, Judge Christiansen actually set a trial date.

The judge informed all the parties that she was establishing a jury trial start date of July 13, 2026.

The judge also set a pretrial hearing on her courtroom calendar for Feb. 9, 2026 to handle any additional pretrial motions from Tate or prosecutors at the State's Attorney's Office.

If the July 13, 2026, trial date stands, that would mean that Michael Kazecki waited nearly eight entire years before going to trial at the Will County Courthouse.

Related Joliet Patch coverage of Michael Kazecki's murder case:

Joliet Murder Defendant Michael Kazecki Remains Free, No Trial Date After 7 Years

District 86 Teacher's Murder: Michael Kazecki Loses Pretrial Motion

Joliet Teacher's Homicide: Did Police Violate Husband's Rights?