Judge grants Chicago man’s pretrial release in Joliet murder case

A Will County judge granted the pretrial release of a Chicago man charged with the first-degree murder of another man who was killed in a shooting on Oct. 5 in Joliet.

On Monday, Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak denied a petition from prosecutors to detain Kendrick Pullen, 21, who faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the fatal shooting of Everett Cole Jr., 42, of Joliet.

The shooting was reported Oct. 5 in the 800 block of Wenberg Street in Joliet. Cole was pronounced dead about 4:40 p.m. on that day at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

Bertani-Tomczak signed a pretrial order for Pullen that recognized he was charged with offenses eligible for detention.

But Bertani-Tomczak’s court order also recognized there are “conditions of pretrial release that can mitigate the real and present threat to the safety of any persons or person in the community or the risk of [Pullen’s] willful flight to avoid prosecution.”

The judge ordered Pullen to not leave Illinois without her permission, stay away from firearms and surrender any firearms in his possession within 48 hours of his release from jail.

Bertani-Tomczak ordered Pullen to submit to electronic monitoring. She also ordered that Pullen is “not allowed to come to Will County except for court,” according to her court order.

Pullen is being represented by Joliet attorneys Jerry King and Marisa Bondi.

Pullen’s next court date is set for Oct. 31 for a preliminary hearing, although usually those court hearings are not held because a grand jury returns an indictment against a defendant.