Prosecutors are seeking to block a Joliet police sergeant’s defense attorneys from calling him a “whistleblower” at his trial in July because he is not an actual whistleblower under Illinois law.
On March 22, Mark Shlifka, the first assistant state’s attorney in Kendall County, filed a motion asking a judge to prevent Sgt. Javier Esqueda’s attorneys from using the term “whistleblower” or calling Esqueda a “whistleblower” during jury selection, opening statements, evidence presentation, closing arguments or any other portion of the trial.
A judge has not yet ruled on the motion.
Prosecutors have charged Esqueda with official misconduct for accessing a Joliet Police Department squad video that was evidence in a Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force investigation of the fatal overdose death of Eric Lurry, 37, who was in police custody, in 2020. Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow cleared the police of wrongdoing in the incident.
Esqueda’s attorney Jeff Tomczak has said his client was subjected to a “biased investigation.”
“This is punishment for exposing wrongdoing at the department,” Tomczak said.
Shlifka’s motion argued a whistleblower under the Illinois Whistleblower Act is not merely an employee who “exposes what they believe to be corruption” but one who does so to a government authority or agency.
“Because the defendant made no such disclosures to an entity described in the act, he does not fit within the definition of a ‘whistleblower,’” Shlifka said.
Shlifka...
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