Ex-Joliet teacher’s 1st-degree murder trial set for next February

After almost five years, a first-degree murder case in Joliet from 2018 in which a former teacher is accused of brutally killing his wife – who also was a teacher – has been scheduled for trial in February.

On Thursday, both parties in the case against Michael Kazecki, 43, of Oak Lawn, informed Judge Dan Rippy that the case will go to trial Feb. 26.

“That’s all by agreement?” Rippy said.

“Yes,” said Nathaniel Tate, Kazecki’s attorney.

On Aug. 8, 2018, Kazecki was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, Rebecca Kazecki, by striking her body between Aug. 4 and Aug. 6 of that year. Kazecki also stands charged with the aggravated domestic battery of his wife.

—  Will County State's Attorney's Office

Tate and Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Erin Krone agreed to file any pretrial motions by Aug. 4, with a potential hearing set for Sept. 28.

On Aug. 8, 2018, Kazecki was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, Rebecca Kazecki, accused of striking her body between Aug. 4 and Aug. 6 of that year. Kazecki also has been charged with the aggravated domestic battery of his wife.

Both Rebecca and Michael worked as teachers in Joliet Public Schools District 86.

District 86 spokeswoman Sandy Zalewski said Michael Kazecki’s employment with the district was terminated Feb. 5, 2020.

Unlike most defendants facing first-degree murder charges in Will County, Michael Kazecki has been on release from jail on a $2 million bond since Aug. 30, 2018. He managed to bond out of jail by posting 10% of that amount.

That bond was set by Judge Bennett Braun. It was $3 million lower than what prosecutors had recommended to Braun during Kazecki’s bond hearing in 2018.

In 2018, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Long said Rebecca Kazecki suffered head trauma, a fractured skull and brain bleeding in the incident.

Long said Rebecca Kazecki was brain dead when she was taken to the hospital. In a police interview, Michael Kazecki admitted to kicking and punching her.

The couple has three children who were 11, 9 and 5 in 2018. Long said Michael Kazecki was hitting his 11-year-old son when Rebecca Kazecki intervened, and he in turn beat her.

At the time, former Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner said Michael Kazecki’s fatal attack was the last in a string of beatings carried out over the course of three days.

Michael Kazecki had called 911 and said his wife was suffering from “alcohol issues,” Roechner said. Responding officers found an unresponsive Rebecca Kazecki in the couple’s McDonough Street home.

Rebecca Kazecki was taken to the hospital, where staff discovered she had been severely beaten and alerted police, Roechner said.

Zalewski said Rebecca Kazecki worked at Gompers Junior High School for 14 years, including as an eighth-grade special education teacher.

She said Michael Kazecki was working as English language arts teacher for seventh- and eighth-grade students before his arrest.