Plainfield Township hate crime murder case heads to trial on Monday

Jury selection is expected to take place on Monday for the hate crime murder trial of a former Plainfield Township landlord after a judge allowed the admission of his statements to a sheriff’s deputy.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak issued a decision on Thursday over likely the last pretrial issue in the case against Joseph Czuba, 73, who’s charged with the Oct. 14, 2023 murder of a Muslim child and attempted murder of his mother at a Plainfield Township residence.

Czuba’s trial at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet is expected to take place Monday. The case is one of the most high-profile cases in Will County that also received national attention.

Bertani-Tomczak’s decision on Thursday allowed the admission of Czuba’s statements made to Will County Sheriff Sgt. Patrick Jones to be used during the trial. Prosecutors argued their motion on the admissibility of those statements at a court hearing on Wednesday.

Prosecutors plan to use those statements to support hate crime charges that alleged Czuba attacked 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on the basis of their Islamic faith.

The conversation between Czuba and Jones took place in Jones' squad vehicle during Czuba’s trip from a Bolingbrook hospital to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

Jones did not issue a formal Miranda warning to Czuba regarding his right against self-incrimination.

However, Bertani-Tomczak found Jones engaged in no “express questioning” of Czuba and he was not trying to interrogate him.

After reviewing the evidence, Bertani-Tomczak found Jones was trying to avoid talking about the Oct. 14, 2023 incident and he kept changing the subject to Czuba’s medical history, dietary habits, his service in the U.S. Air Force and other unrelated topics.

During the trip in Jones' vehicle, Czuba allegedly referenced a “massacre in Israel” and told Jones he couldn’t believe there were protests supporting the PLO, according to Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald. PLO is an acronym for the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Fitzgerald said Czuba told Jones he was “afraid for my life” and that of his wife, Mary Czuba, who filed for divorce after the attack on the boy and mother. Fitzgerald said Czuba said he was afraid he was going to be subjected to an act of jihad.

Fitzgerald said Czuba said he felt that he had been “set up” because he wasn’t told Hanan Shaheen was Muslim.

Fitzgerald said Czuba claimed Hanan Shaheen had been teaching Wadee to hate him while he was trying to be his friend. Fitzgerald said Czuba told Jones that he “begged” her to leave his residence but she wouldn’t leave.

Fitzgerald conceded Czuba was in police custody at the time he made the statements and he was not given a formal Miranda warning.

But Jones was not subjecting Czuba to an interrogation, Fitzgerald said.

“It was Mr. Czuba who volunteered the statements after the incident,” Fitzgerald said.

Kylie Blatti, one of Czuba’s attorneys, asked Bertani-Tomczak to block Czuba’s statements from the trial because Jones engaged in a “subtle form of interrogation.”

Blatti argued prosecutors adopted a “classic, narrow idea of interrogation” when case law has a “broader sense” of interrogation.

Blatti said Jones was behaving in a friendly manner toward Czuba and speaking with him about private details from his life to build camaraderie. She said Jones was doing so to elicit statements that prosecutors would find incriminating.

She said Jones engaged in only “feeble attempts” to stop the conversation with Czuba and never told Czuba to not talk about the incident.

During Wednesday’s court hearing, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Christine Vukmir made the request for a medical examination after Czuba was seen closing his eyes and breathing in a shallow manner during the hearing.

“I know it’s an unusual motion,” Vukmir said.

George Lenard, one of Czuba’s attorneys, called it a “ridiculous request” and told Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak he had no concerns about his client.

“They don’t want to try this case,” Lenard said of the prosecutors.

Bertani-Tomczak denied Vukmir’s motion.