Judge's Son Shows Up For Felony Domestic Case, Still No Trial Date

A judge’s son charged with brutalizing his girlfriend and locking her in the trunk of a car went to the trouble of showing up for court Thursday but still has no date for his trial.

The last time 30-year-old Louis Goode’s case came up before Grundy County Judge Robert Marsaglia, he didn’t have to attend the hearing. In fact, Goode only bothered going to court on his felony case twice in nearly 11 months before Thursday’s appearance, according to county records.

At the previous court date, in February, Judge Marsaglia scheduled Thursday’s hearing to check on the status of the case. He also set a May 16 trial.

On Wednesday, Goode waived his right to a jury trial. If he ever does stand trial, his fate will be decided solely by Marsaglia, who has already sealed the entire court file for a protective order obtained by Goode’s girlfriend, effectively making it disappear from public view. Marsaglia also reduced Goode’s bail from $5,000 to $2,000, and allowed Goode to leave the state for eight days in January so he could go to Texas. Special prosecutor Charles Colburn said it was Judge Marsaglia who permitted Goode to skip at least one of his court hearings.

Judge Marsaglia was appointed to Goode’s case to avoid the appearance of a conflict because Goode’s mother, Carla Alessio Policandriotes, is a Will County judge. Will County deputies arrested Goode in October 2014.

Marsaglia said that if the case did go to trial as scheduled on May 16, he would hear it at the Will County courthouse. Goode’s attorney, Ed Jaquays, asked for it to remain in Grundy County. Colburn then suggested it might not actually go to trial after all.

“I do anticipate that there will be a plea,” Colburn said.

Marsaglia agreed to keep the case in Grundy for the May date and, instead of slating it for a trial, scheduled another status hearing.

Goode was supposed to plead guilty in February but backed out when he was unable to get prosecutors in Missouri to give him as favorable a deal down there, Jaquays said at the time. Goode, who is on probation for pleading guilty to felony cocaine possession in Callaway County, Missouri, faces possible prison time in that state. Callaway County prosecutors moved to revoke Goode’s probation following his October 2014 arrest.

Goode’s Will County case stems from his alleged abuse of 30-year-old Tanya Brandolino, his girlfriend and the mother or his child.

In police reports obtained by Patch, detectives said Goode explained how Brandolino attacked him while he was sleeping because he took $70 out of her wallet to buy cocaine “for both of them.”

Brandolino “threatened to take his son away from him,” the report said, so Goode told detectives he “grabbed (her) by the arm and dragged her to the car and put her inside the trunk.”

“Louis stated that he told (her) that he would drive the car off of a cliff,” the report said.

The couple went to bed after Goode let Brandolino out of the trunk, police said, but the abuse resumed the following morning. The reports indicate that Judge Alessio Policandriotes even witnessed her son battering his girlfriend, but instead of reporting the crime, she chose to drive him to the first day of his new job at the Will County Courthouse. Goode was able to secure the county job despite his plea to the felony cocaine case in Missouri.

Brandolino has accused Judge Alessio Policandriotes of looking on as her son made a death threat.

“She got out of the car and said Lou get in the car,” Brandolino said in her petition for the protective order against Goode.

“He then threw the phone into the garage (and) he said in front of his mother I’m going to kill you you’ll never get custody of your son better get a good lawyer,” Brandolino said.