Crest Hill man strikes out on his own in Izzy’s bar murder case

A Crest Hill man charged with shooting a bartender to death and wounding another man in 2018, at Izzy’s bar in Joliet has decided to represent himself in the case.

The case against 60-year-old Patrick Gleason took another unusual turn in the past week when Gleason told Will County Judge Dan Rippy on July 26 that he wanted a new attorney and his previous attorney, Chuck Bretz, decided to withdraw from the case, court records show.

Gleason told the judge on Monday that he wished to proceed as his own attorney, which he was allowed to do. Gleason has continued to remain in jail on a $10 million bond.

For four years, Gleason has stood charged with the 2018 murder of Izzy’s bartender Daniel Rios III, 52.

He’s also charged with wounding Thomas Izquierdo, the son of Izzy’s owner, Alfonso Izquierdo, in the shooting and firing shots at Artis Henderson.

Bretz said he couldn’t discuss why Gleason wanted new representation, and why he withdrew from the case, as that would be privileged communication between an attorney and a client.

“He and I mutually agreed that I should no longer represent him,” Bretz said.

Bretz said he’s holding on to discovery until Gleason finds a new attorney.

Gleason has previously tried to cut ties with Bretz by claiming there has been a breakdown in communication between him and Bretz, who said at the time there was no merit to his previous client’s claims.

Gleason’s case has dragged on for years as both parties have continually dealt with the issue of whether he is mentally fit for trial.

Prosecutors have said in previous motions filed in the case that Gleason has not been cooperative with psychological examinations.

Gleason was once found fit to stand trial on Feb. 18, 2020. He was then scheduled to go to trial last year. However, the trial was canceled after an April 22, 2021 hearing where Bretz raised doubts about his client’s psychological fitness.

During that hearing, Gleason claimed during his testimony that the surveillance video that prosecutors wanted to admit in the case was “all doctored up,” and that he had been set up by the Joliet police and “phony witnesses.”

Gleason was found unfit for trial on March 4, but has since been found fit again, according to Bretz.

Gleason filed two federal lawsuits by himself in 2020 that were later dismissed.

In those lawsuits, Gleason claimed he was framed by the Joliet police and that Thomas Izquierdo and two other bar patrons “re-enacted” the shooting to “secure a conviction of first-degree murder,” in order to save the bar from a lawsuit and make Thomas Izquierdo “look like the hero.”