Key witness in reckless homicide case sues Will County Sheriff’s Office, claims constitutional violations

A key witness in a 2017 reckless homicide case has filed a federal lawsuit alleging his constitutional rights were violated when he was kept inside the Will County jail last year in order to testify at trial.

On Thursday, attorneys for Norberto Navarro filed a lawsuit against the Will County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Sgt. Paul Rojek and Sheriff Deputy Steven Adent that alleged he suffered severe physical and mental trauma while he was unlawfully kept in jail so he could testify at the March 2022 trial for Sean Woulfe.

Woulfe was on trial for the 2017 reckless homicide of Lindsey Schmidt, 29, her unborn child and her three sons, Owen, 6, Weston, 4, and Kaleb, 1.

The trial resulted in a deadlocked jury on March 30, 2022. On July 21, 2022, Woulfe pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and he was sentenced to two years in prison, with a projected parole date of July 17.

At a press conference on Thursday in Chicago, Navarro’s attorney, Nicole Hallett, said the $1 million material witness bond placed on Navarro was improper because he was always willing to testify. Those bonds are typically placed on witnesses unwilling to testify.

She said Navarro was also a victim as he witnessed the horrific crash and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.

“Yet Will County treated him worse than the person that they were prosecuting for reckless homicide. While Norberto sat in prison, the defendant, who they were prosecuting had been released on bond. That wasn’t right,” Hallett said.

Will County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer and Will County State’s Attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged Navarro endured harsh conditions at the jail, alleging he was only allowed to leave his cold jail cell to shower, the water was freezing and he received insufficient and inedible food.

Before arrival at the jail, Navarro was placed in removal proceedings in 2021 by the Immigrant and Customs Enforcement agency and civilly detained in a detention center in New Mexico, the lawsuit said. Navarro has been a lawful permanent resident since he entered the U.S. at the age of 8 in 1999, the lawsuit said.

Hallett said Will County officials violated Illinois sanctuary laws that prohibit local officials from participating in federal immigration enforcement.

“Sanctuary laws don’t mean anything if local governments refuse to follow them. We hope that this lawsuit will send a clear message to Will County and to every other county in the state that they won’t get away with flagrantly violating the law,” Hallett said.

Navarro’s lawsuit alleged that Sgt. Rojek and Deputy Ardent knew Will County could not hold Navarro at the request of ICE because such detention would be illegal under Illinois law.

The lawsuit alleged Rojek emailed an ICE officer about obtaining custody of Navarro and stated there was a “concern that our state law may prohibit ICE from relinquishing this subject to our custody.” Rojek was alleged to have stated that he worked with a prosecutor on an ICE transfer, which was “a couple years ago though, and more sanctuary nonsense laws have passed.”

Both Rojek and former Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Tuminello, who’s now a judge, had sought the transfer of Navarro from New Mexico to Will County to testify in the Woulfe trial, the lawsuit alleged.

Tuminello was accused in the lawsuit of telling ICE officials that he would request a $1 million bond for Navarro, which was $725,000 higher than the bond set for Woulfe. Woulfe had been free on bond for almost five years before his case went to trial.

After Navarro had been booked into jail on Jan. 20, 2022, his attorneys motioned for his release.

The lawsuit alleged Tuminello then asked Navarro’s attorneys to withdraw their motion and allow a material witness bond for Navarro to be set for $1 million.

In exchange, the state’s attorney’s office would agree to certify Navarro for a U-Visa, the lawsuit said. The visa provides temporary immigration status for victims of crime.

“Mr. Navarro agreed to not challenge a [$1 million] bond in exchange for a signed [U-Visa] certification, because he wanted to avoid deportation and remain in the United States with his family,” the lawsuit said.

After Navarro testified in the case, he was released from jail on March 23, 2022.