Lawyer Says He was Threatened by Father of 'Miley Cyrus Boy'

The lawyer representing one of the so-called Miley Cyrus Boys said the Joliet man’s father threatened and cursed him.

Mark Besbekos, the attorney for 28-year-old Robert Krapil, filed a motion to withdraw from the case due to the allegedly rough treatment he received from his client’s father.

In his motion, Besbekos said he met with Krapil Tuesday about whether he would plead or go to trial on charges of aggravated battery and mob action.

Krapil “left my office to decide what he wanted to do in this case,” Besbekos said, and about 10 minutes later, his client’s father called. The father “threatened me and cursed repeatedly at me in a loud, menacing manner,” the motion said.

Besbekos considers this an insurmountable problem and says he can no longer represent Krapil.

Krapil’s trial had been schedule for the coming Tuesday.
Krapil, along with Jason Palacios, Daniel Lahey and the man tabbed by prosecutors as their “ringleader,” Ryan Elliott, all 28, launched an unprovoked attack against 35-year-old Alex Hernandez at the Hickory Street bar Lety’s place in May 2014, police said.

The four were gabbing about Miley Cyrus when they got there, police said, but quickly turned their attention to Hernandez, who was there with his girlfriend, Jennifer Baranski, 32.

Hernandez said Elliott first ordered him to “take your ass to the other end of the bar with all the other Mexicans,” then let loose with a few ethnic slurs before he and his three buddies pummeled him and knocked him to the floor.

Baranski tried to shield Hernandez from the blows, the couple said, but the four men, along with two others who have never been arrested or identified, beat her as well.

Donny Rice, the father of the woman who was tending bar at Lety’s that night, had just stopped by to bring her some dinner when the Miley Cyrus Boys went after Hernandez. Rice, 45, said he told them to stop beating Hernandez and Baranski. They allegedly responded by savagely battering him as well.

Elliot was also charged with aggravated battery for breaking the nose of Joliet resident Jim Lanham with an unprovoked punch at the Essington Road bar On the Rocks in June 2013.

Elliott pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in connection with both attacks and dodged a hate crime charge from the Lety’s Place case. He served a couple weeks in jail, was forbidden to drink and was ordered to wear a bracelet that monitors his alcohol consumption. Elliott doesn’t want to wear the bracelet anymore because the “costs have become burdensome,” according to a motion filed by his attorney.

Palacios was allowed to walk free after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. As part of his deal, he agreed to testify against his pals.