Man charged with Joliet Outlaws murder seeks jail release

A man who was granted a new trial in a case where he’s charged with the 2017 killing of a woman at the Joliet Outlaws’ motorcycle clubhouse is seeking his release from jail under the SAFE-T Act.

Attorney Chuck Bretz, who represents Jeremy Boshears, 38, filed a motion Tuesday requesting his client’s release from jail. The motion follows a Jan. 24 decision from Will County Judge Dave Carlson to give Boshears a new trial based on numerous errors he determined were committed by prosecutors in the case.

In 2022, a jury found Boshears guilty of killing Katie Kearns, 24, at the Outlaws motorcycle clubhouse in Joliet Township. The jury also found Boshears guilty of concealing her homicidal death from law enforcement by storing her body inside of a barn in Kankakee County.

Carlson’s Jan. 24 ruling allows Boshears to receive a new trial. However, Bretz is seeking to get his case dismissed altogether on double jeopardy grounds. The double jeopardy clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibits a person from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

Boshears has been in jail since Nov. 18, 2017 on a $10 million bond.

While Boshears could still post 10% of that amount, or $1 million, to secure his release from jail, he is instead seeking his release under the SAFE-T Act. The criminal justice reform law eliminated cash bail but defendants charged with violent offenses such as first-degree murder can still be detained in jail.

Bretz argued in his motion on Tuesday that Boshears does not pose a “real and present threat” to the safety of anyone in the community and he is not a “willful flight from prosecution.”

Bretz also argued Boshears has no past criminal record and will abide by any conditions for pretrial release set by Carlson.

During the 2022 trial, Boshears testified on his own behalf but failed to persuade the jury with his claim that Kearns died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Boshears was an Outlaws member at the time and he admitted to concealing Kearns’ death from her brother and detectives under orders of his superiors with the Outlaws.

While prosecutors presented no independent eyewitnesses to Kearns’ death, they delivered a mountain of circumstantial evidence and physical evidence they said pointed to Boshears’ guilt in the case.