Jury allowed break in deliberations in Lockport double murder case

A Will County jury was allowed to go home on Thursday night after spending 10 hours trying decide whether a Crestwood man is guilty of strangling a Lockport woman to death and smothering their 14-month-old daughter in 2020.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak said she’s received notes from the jury about how they can’t come to an unanimous decision and “things are really getting heated in here.”

The jury has been deliberating on whether Anthony Maggio, 30, is guilty of the Oct. 2, 2020, first-degree murder of Ashtin Eaton, 32, and their daughter Hazel Bryant.

The jury requested to take a break from deliberations. But Maggio’s attorney, Michael Clancy, motioned for a mistrial based on their inability to reach a decision over the past 10 hours and because it seemed like they’re deadlocked.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Koch said the jury should be allowed to take a break.

“They didn’t say they were hopelessly deadlocked,” Koch said.

Bertani-Tomczak denied Clancy’s motion for mistrial. She allowed the jury to take a break and return Friday morning. She stressed to the jury to not view any media coverage on the case.

Earlier on Thursday evening, Clancy asked to have the jury to have more time to deliberate because he was concerned of their exposure to media coverage if they take a break.

“It’s been horribly one-sided,” Clancy said of the media coverage.

He said the media coverage has “taken parts of this trial out of context.”

The jury began deliberations after they were dismissed from the courtroom about 11:50 a.m. on Thursday.

Since that time, the jury requested to review crime scene photos and video, as well as a transcript of the five-hour police interview with Maggio. However, the jury was informed a transcript doesn’t exist. The jury has also asked to review text messages.

Before deliberations began, Clancy and prosecutors made their final case in closing arguments.

Prosecutors posed a question to the jury: Who else would have the motive to kill Eaton, stage her death to look like a suicide and smother Hazel to death?

For prosecutors, the answer is Maggio.

“[Maggio] never wanted Hazel and he certainly never wanted to pay child support for her,” said Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Kwasneski.

During the trial, jurors learned that Maggio was engaged to Marcelina Baliczek and had two daughters with her. But when Maggio landed a job at an Amazon facility in Joliet, he had an affair with Eaton, a fellow co-worker, that resulted in Hazel’s birth in 2019.

Prosecutors pointed to the text messages between Maggio, Eaton and Baliczek that they contend showed Maggio only wanted to be with Baliczek and his two other daughters, and that Baliczek was thinking of leaving Maggio.

Koch argued Maggio viewed Eaton and Hazel as a “problem” that he needed to “fix,” especially when Maggio knew Eaton was planning on taking him to court for child support payments for Hazel.

Koch said Maggio knew he was “going to be on the hook” for Hazel’s child support payments.

“No one else has that motive. No one else has that need,” Koch said.

Koch asked the jury why Eaton’s death was staged as a suicide, why Hazel was killed but Eaton’s other 11-year-old daughter was kept alive.

The other daughter was not Maggio’s child, who was asleep in her bedroom on the night Eaton and Hazel were killed, according to trial testimony. The 11-year-old daughter would wake up and find her mother lying dead on the kitchen floor.

The key evidence for prosecutors is Maggio’s DNA underneath Eaton’s fingernails, on the neckline of her shirt and on the knife that was used to cut her wrist and make it seem as if she died by suicide.

“DNA doesn’t lie,” Kwasneski told the jury.

Kwasneski cited testimony from New York forensic consultant Paul Kish that demonstrated Eaton was engaged in a struggle after her wrist was cut with the knife by an assailant.

Kwasneski argued Maggio’s DNA ended up on Eaton’s fingernails when she was struggling with Maggio as he strangled her to death.

Clancy suggested Maggio’s DNA ended up on the knife because it was the same one Eaton kept in her vehicle and Maggio spent time with her inside that vehicle.

He said Maggio’s DNA ended up on Eaton’s fingernails and shirt because he would visit her apartment and he had sex with her about two weeks before the homicides.

Clancy said there was no evidence proving Maggio was in Lockport during the timeframe of the homicides and he argued the Lockport Police Department conducted a flawed investigation that failed to prove Maggio is guilty.

Clancy said the investigators failed to swab Eaton’s neck and jaw for DNA evidence and failed to conduct DNA testing on the bedding on the bed where Hazel was found.

Clancy said they also failed to interview other witnesses regarding Maggio and failed to find video of him in Lockport at the time of the incident.

“When the investigation is that faulty, that is reasonable doubt,” Clancy said.

Clancy argued the DNA evidence doesn’t prove Maggio killed Eaton and Hazel because there was other DNA found on Eaton’s T-shirt and on the handle of the knife.

“Three DNAs on the [knife] handle. One unknown. That’s reasonable doubt,” Clancy said.

Even though Clancy argued the prosecutors’ distinction of “major” and “minor” DNA was “trickery,” he nevertheless argued Maggio’s DNA on the handle knife was considered “minor.”

Clancy reiterated that DNA doesn’t tell “when, how or how much.”

Clancy said Baliczek testified that she was asleep with Maggio at their Crestwood residence during the time of the incident.

But Koch said Baliczek ultimately didn’t know if Maggio had left during the night.

“She doesn’t know. She can’t know,” Koch said.

Baliczek acknowledged that Maggio was able to sneak out of their residence on Sept. 20, 2020 to visit Eaton in Lockport for sex without her knowing. Koch argued that Maggio left his phone on Oct. 1, 2020, to show that his location was in Crestwood even though he was going to Lockport.