Will County judge agrees to limits in deputy’s trial

Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Edward Goewey won’t likely be able to claim credit for any policy changes when he goes to trial Wednesday on a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a confrontation over a suspected safety issue at his children’s school.

Goewey was arrested after the Dec. 3 incident at St. Mary’s School in Mokena, where he allegedly refused to leave and insisted on the removal of a student believed to have made threats at the elementary school, faces the misdemeanor charge in Will County Court.

Lawyers in Will County Court on Tuesday, argued about issues that could come up during the trial on the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.

Special Prosecutor William Elward argued that Goeway’s attorney should not be able to point to any changes in school policy or the possibility that Goewey could lose his job because of the incident.

“If there’s any reference to him possibly losing his job, that’s absolutely irrelevant to this case,” Elward said.

Elward appeared concerned about any attempt to portray Goewey as acting heroically in the incident, even using the word at one point.

“If he takes the stand and says, ‘I did something heroic and saved a child,’ that’s not true,” Elward said, while arguing that limits should be put on what Goewey and his attorney could present during the trial.

Judge Brian Barrett agreed that references to subsequent policy changes at the school, and the potential impact on Goewey’s job, should not be part of the trial, although he appeared to leave some room for reconsideration.

“As of right now, any subsequent remedial effort taken by the school is irrelevant and will be barred,” Barrett said.

Goewey’s attorney, Bob Bodach, questioned the limit on references to policy changes when it was apparent that Elward intended to show that Goewey had been prohibited from entering the school since the incident.

Bodach argued that Elward was “splitting the hair” and that if he wanted to bring up “one thing that happened afterwards, then everything that happened afterwards is relevant.”

Barrett, however, questioned whether barring someone from a property is “a change in policy” and said that that policy changes that occur after an incident generally are barred as evidence during a trial.

Jury selection for the trial occurred Tuesday afternoon, and opening arguments were to begin Wednesday morning.