Testimony starts in Joliet sidewalk homicide trial

Neighbors on Wednesday described what they saw outside their Cathedral Area homes in the first day of testimony in the sidewalk murder trial stemming from a 2019 shooting in broad daylight.

Joliet resident Eileen Stroud said she thought someone had shot a dog when she first looked out her window.

“I think I was in shock,” Stroud said. “It’s a nice neighborhood. We don’t have things like that happen.”

What Stroud saw was the body of Quentin Woods, 38, lying on a Sherwood Place sidewalk just a block away from the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus.

Matthew Rutledge, 41, is on trial for first-degree murder for Woods’ death. He also faces a charge of attempted murder for allegedly shooting Woods’ sister, Tiffany Williams.

“I think I was in shock. It’s a nice neighborhood. We don’t have things like that happen.”

—  Eileen Stroud, witness for the prosecution in the Matthew Rutledge trial

Much of the testimony and cross-examination focused on just what witnesses saw on Dec. 20, 2019.

None of the three witnesses actually saw the shooting.

But they all testified to hearing shots and then looking out the windows of their homes to see a man with a gun standing over a body with a woman nearby.

What preceded that moment is the crux of the trial.

Prosecutors in opening arguments contended that Woods was gunned down as he tried to run. Rutledge’s defense is that he acted in self-defense.

Those two versions of the shooting were repeatedly at odds during testimony and cross-examination.

Rutledge’s attorney, Charles Bretz, frequently contrasted testimony given in court with statements made by the witnesses to police at the time of the shooting.

“You never told police you saw anybody being chased. Did you?” Bretz said to Sherwood Place resident William Rock. “That’s not actually what you saw. That’s an assumption that you made.”

Rock had just testified when questioned by Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Erin Krone that he “saw one gentleman chasing another up the sidewalk.”

Rock also testified that he saw the man with the gun leave the scene briefly and come back without the gun before police arrived.

“That’s when I saw the individual hide the gun,” Rock said at one point, rousing an objection from Bretz.

Krone in opening arguments said Rutledge concealed the gun, changed his clothes and shaved off a beard – all of which could cast doubt on a case of self-defense.

Will County Judge Carmen Goodman sustained Bretz’s objection and ordered the word “hide” stricken from the record.

There is no jury in the case. Rutledge asked for a bench trial, and Goodman will decide whether he is guilty.

Also testifying Wednesday was Robert Stroud, Eileen’s husband, who said he went outside to empty the recyclables and heard people arguing before the gunshots.

Eileen Stroud had testified that she thought the sound was firecrackers.

“I said, ‘No, that’s more than fireworks,” Robert Stroud said.