Joliet Outlaws Murder: Judge Decides On Retrial For Jeremy Boshears

JOLIET — In Courtroom 405 on Tuesday — the second to last day on the bench for Will County Judge Dave Carlson —criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz argued that the Will County State's Attorney's Office should be prohibited from retrying his client, Jeremy Boshears, based on the actions of Assistant State's Attorney Steven Platek during the first murder trial, in May 2022.

Three months ago, in January, Judge Carlson set aside Boshears' convictions of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide in the November 2017 death of Boshears' girlfriend, 24-year-old New Lenox Township resident Katie Kearns. At the time of his decision, Judge Carlson announced that Boshears should get a new trial.

However, over the past few months, Bretz has argued that Will County's prosecutors should be prevented from retrying his client. Bretz argued the misconduct of the prosecution was so outrageous that Boshears, a Joliet Outlaws motorcycle club member, should not have to stand trial a second time surrounding the death of Kearns, who tended bar at Woody's Bar on Joliet's old industrial east side on her last night alive.

Bretz reminded the judge that prosecutors compared his client to notorious mobster John Gotti during the jury trial and referred to Boshears and the Joliet Outlaws as being a bunch of criminals and a criminal enterprise. Bretz argued this was done intentionally, as part of the prosecution's effort to taint the jury's impressions of his client, to either gain an improper first-degree murder conviction or end up with a mistrial, so they could obtain a do-over.

Bretz told Judge Carlson during Tuesday's hearing that "it was a tragic day when Ms. Kearns took her life" inside the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse, six-and-a-half years ago.

Several days after her disappearance, Will County Sheriff's detectives discovered her body wrapped in a pool table cover that came from the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse on the Joliet's east side. Her body was left inside the back of her Jeep Wrangler an hour's drive south of Joliet in the pole barn belonging to the former president of the Joliet Outlaws.

During his 2022 trial, Boshears testified in his own defense, telling the courtroom that Kearns grabbed a gun from behind the bar that Joliet Outlaws clubhouse and that she shot herself in the head. Boshears testified that he enlisted the help of fellow Outlaws to remove her dead body from the Outlaws property and that he was responsible for driving her Jeep, with her body in the back, to the pole barn in Kankakee County owned by Ronald Keagle, the former Outlaws president.

"The case should be dismissed on grounds of double jeopardy," Bretz argued Tuesday.

On the other hand, Assistant State's Attorney Mark Shlifka argued that prosecutors did nothing improper by suggesting that Boshears and the Joliet Outlaws were criminals. Shlifka maintained that that inference was raised by Bretz's own defense expert witness, a retired police officer who had experience infiltrating various motorcycle gangs.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Carlson ruled in favor of the prosecution. As to the question of whether the Will County State's Attorneys did something nefarious,"I can't make that leap," Carlson announced. "I can't say the why is established. I can't say it was malicious. I can't say it was nefarious."

As to the issue of whether Boshears should be let out of the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act, Judge Carlson rejected Bretz's motion, then reconsidered. Carlson vacated that order and told the attorneys to return to his courtroom at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and he will consider their arguments before making a decision.

Bretz insisted that Judge Carlson knows his client's case better than all the remaining three dozen judges at the Will County Courthouse. Therefore, Bretz does not want the issue of pretrial release handled by one of the other judges. Bretz explained that for many people who wear the black robe, when they learn someone faces murder charges, "it's back to jail for you. This is a pretty unique set of circumstances," Bretz reminded Judge Carlson.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

New Trial For Jeremy Boshears In Katie Kearns Murder