Homer Glen couple charged with child endangerment will remain in jail for now

Homer Glen — Edward Weiher and Alexa Balen, the Homer Glen couple charged with felony child endangerment in the drug-related death of their 2-year-old daughter, will continue to be held in jail at least through the end of the year following a hearing on Tuesday.

Weiher, 49, and Balen, 27, were arrested last month after their daughter died on Nov. 6 from ingesting both cocaine and fentanyl, which were found in significant quantities around their house.

Balen’s other daughter, 6, was also found with drugs in her system and removed by the Illinois Department of Child Protective Services after the incident. Both children had previously been removed from the couple’s custody and placed with their maternal grandmother, who had reportedly returned them to the Homer Glen home three months before the death of 2-year-old Trinity Balen-Weiher.

Weiher and Balen have repeatedly been denied pretrial release following their arrests on Nov. 7 and Nov. 18, respectively.

The couple’s lawyer Cosmo Tedone submitted a petition on Dec. 6 requesting their release once again after Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak denied a petition for release on Dec. 3.

On Tuesday, the couple was back in court before Judge Vincent Cornelius.

Tedone argued in the petition that under Illinois' SAFE-T Act in order to deny pretrial release “the state must prove by clear and convincing evident ‘the defendant poses a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the community, based on the specific articulable facts of the case’ and ‘no condition or combination of conditions can mitigate the real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the community.’”

The motion claims since Weiher and Balen are not accused of a violent crime and have no violent criminal records there is no grounds to keep them detained. Tedone also proposed in his petition that they do not pose a threat to anyone because Balen’s surviving daughter has been removed from the home and placed in foster care with non-relatives.

At the Dec. 3 detention hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Amanda Tasker read numerous texts from Balen to her drug dealer which illustrated that drugs were regularly delivered to their home at 12229 West Thorn Apple drive at all times of day and were often left in the open in the home’s garage or on the porch.

Tasker argued at the time this proved the couple did create a dangerous situation for neighbors and the surrounding community, especially children.

Tedone said in his motion that “such danger could be mitigated by a condition of release, such as an order barring clients from being around children as well as regular drug testing.”

Tasker submitted the state’s response to Tedone’s motion on Tuesday.

Since Tedone and Cornelius did not have time to thoroughly review the response, the judge decided the hearing needed to be continued.

With the holidays and the end of the year approaching, Cornelius said he would not be available to hear the issue again until Jan. 3, ensuring couple will remain in the Will County jail through the end of the year.