Both sides rest in Joliet Outlaw’s murder trial

Both sides rested in the roughly two-week trial of a Joliet Outlaw charged with killing his girlfriend and covering up her death.

On Thursday, the jury heard more testimony from experts on their analysis of how Katie Kearns, 24, died from a gunshot wound to the head on Nov. 13, 2017, inside the Joliet Outlaws’ clubhouse.

The jury is expected to return Friday morning to listen to closing arguments. Afterward, they will begin deliberating on whether Jeremy Boshears, 36, is guilty of killing Kearns and concealing her death.

Forensic scientist Matthew Noedel of Noedel Scientific provided testimony on behalf of prosecutors.

Noedel said it would be difficult to determine whether Kearns died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound because the scene of where she died was altered.

On Wednesday, Boshears testified about reluctantly participating with fellow Joliet Outlaws in the coverup of what he claimed was Kearns’ self-inflicted shooting. The coverup included removing Kearns’ body from the clubhouse and cleaning up blood.

Boshears’ attorney, Chuck Bretz, asked Noedel if it was his opinion that it was impossible to determine if the fatal gunshot was by self-inflicted or caused by another shooter.

“Based on the reconstruction, that’s true,” Noedel said.

Defense expert Arthur Borchers returned to the witness stand Thursday. Borchers previously testified that his analysis of the incident led him to conclude Kearns died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Borchers said other scenarios proposed by Noedel as to how Kearns could’ve been shot by another person were theoretically possible but unlikely.

The only eyewitness testimony presented in the trial thus far as to how Kearns died has come from Boshears himself. Prosecutors have put forth an array of circumstantial evidence they claim show Boshears killed Kearns.

Boshears claimed Kearns was responsible for her own death.

“She pulled the trigger,” Boshears said.

Boshears bolstered his claim by presenting to the jury details of Kearns’ private medical records regarding her drug abuse and mental health issues.

None of the medical professionals who testified about Kearns said she reported suicidal ideation or thoughts. A nurse said she treated Kearns for self-inflicted cuts to her arm in 2017 and Kearns reported she did cut herself as a coping mechanism.

Boshears said he wanted to report Kearns’ death to the police but blamed his fellow Outlaws for why he could not. When Boshears was asked why he never contacted the police about Kearns’ death, he said, “I had orders not to do that.”

Boshears said the Outlaws have a military-like chain of command that must be followed “by any means necessary.”

Edward Jauch, a retired police officer who infiltrated the Joliet Outlaws in the early 2000s, testified that brotherhood is the core of the Outlaws.

During the trial, Boshears and former Outlaw prospect Colby O’Neal wound up implicating each other and another Outlaw for the coverup of Kearns’ death.