Attorney claims grand jury was misled in Joliet Township robbery, murder case

An attorney for one of two men charged with murder during an attempted robbery in 2018 has filed a motion to have the case dismissed after claiming a Will County sheriff’s detective misled the grand jury.

The motion has not been ruled on and has been scheduled for a court hearing March 23.

Will County Assistant Public Defender Eric Berg, the attorney for Anthony Francimore, 22, of Joliet, filed the motion Monday, Feb. 4, that argued a detective misrepresented his client’s statements to the grand jury and omitted other relevant facts “so as to deprive Mr. Francimore of due process.”

Francimore and Elijah Watson, 25, of Joliet were both charged with murder and armed robbery in connection with the death of Nathan Ballard, 20, on Oct. 28, 2018.

Deputies investigated a shooting incident in Joliet Township and discovered a man lying in the roadway, later identified as Ballard, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

“Detectives would later learn that the suspects in this case intended on robbing the victim, Nathan Ballard, and upon doing so and while driving away from the victim, several shots were fired in the vicinity of Ballard by Elijah Watson,” sheriff’s police said.

Berg’s motion argued a detective testified before the grand jury that Francimore stated to the police that there was a robbery and the detective claimed Francimore initially said it was Watson’s idea before admitting it was his.

“In fact, Anthony initially disclosed that he went there to pick up money from Nathan Ballard. It wasn’t until the second day of interrogation that detectives began referring to the events as a robbery despite there being no evidence as to the elements of the use of force and the use of weapon,” Berg’s motion said.

Berg’s motion argued further that “the state’s investigation showed that a robbery did not occur” and the detective’s “abbreviated and misleading version of events thus misled the grand jury into believing an armed robbery occurred when one never did.”

“Ultimately, the state has overcharged defendant with armed robbery and felony murder and the defendant has suffered prejudice as a result of the above false and misleading statements to the grand jury,” Berg’s motion said.

When asked about Berg’s motion, Will County State’s Attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney said that their office will be responding in court to the motion to dismiss.

Will County Deputy Chief Dan Jungles declined to respond to the claims in Berg’s motion, saying he will “never make a comment on any claim made by an attorney for a defense.”

“That is the job they are hired to do and that is their opinion. It is up to a judge or jury to decide whether or not a defense is believable or not,” Jungles said. “I am not going to discuss any ongoing court case as it can be prejudicial to the jury pool and potentially cause a mistrial.”