The case against a retired Joliet police sergeant charged with unlawfully accessing the video of an arrested man overdosing in a squad vehicle faced further delays after prosecutors requested more time to gather evidence for a key pretrial hearing.
That evidence includes records on two independent investigations commissioned by the City of Joliet regarding retired Joliet police Sgt. Javier Esqueda, 55, and surveillance video that went missing during an outside investigation into the 2020 death of Eric Lurry, 37, according to a motion from Kendall County Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Shlifka.
Shlifka filed the motion on Thursday, the day before both sides in Esqueda’s case were scheduled to hold a hearing to determine whether evidence against Esqueda should be suppressed under the Illinois Whistleblower Act.
Shlifka asked for more time to gather evidence for the hearing after learning of the two independent investigations.
As a result, Judge Robert Pilmer decided on Friday to move the evidence suppression hearing to March to fit with the schedule of Esqueda’s attorney, Jeff Tomczak, who has a murder trial in December.
Esqueda’s trial, which has been delayed at least twice, is scheduled to occur some time afterward.
After Friday’s court hearing, Tomczak said he had subpoenaed witnesses and was ready for a hearing on his motion to suppress evidence until he received the motion for a continuance from Shlifka on Thursday afternoon.
“We basically had the entire command staff...
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