Attorney files motions challenging Joliet police sergeant’s official misconduct case

An attorney for a Joliet police sergeant charged with unlawfully accessing the video of an arrested man’s fatal overdose filed motions challenging the criminal indictment, trial venue and prosecution.

A hearing for those motions in the case against Sgt. Javier Esqueda was slated for May 6. The Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office has yet to respond to the motions.

On Thursday, Esqueda’s attorney, Jeff Tomczak, told Kendall County Judge Robert Pilmer that he submitted an amended motion to dismiss the case for failure to state an offense and a motion to dismiss for prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury.

Tomczak previously filed a motion to dismiss for improper trial venue and a motion asking prosecutors to provide more specifics about the indictment.

Tomczak said he anticipates calling former Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner to provide testimony in the case.

The indictment filed against Esqueda alleged that “while not on duty” on June 10, he used a laptop in his squad car to access the department’s WatchGuard system and view “a video file which was locked” while he was “in a motor vehicle which passed through Kendall County.”

The indictment alleged Esqueda acted “with intent to obtain a personal advantage for himself.”

Esqueda has been accused of unlawfully accessing a video that showed Eric Lurry, 37, riding to the Joliet Police Department after he was arrested at what police said was the scene of a drug deal in January 2020.

Lurry’s death was investigated by the Will Grundy Major Crimes Task Force. The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office determined the Joliet police committed no criminal wrongdoing.

The Will County Coroner’s Office ruled Lurry’s death was caused by an accidental drug overdose from heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.

The video of Lurry’s overdose led to protests throughout the summer in Joliet and an ongoing federal lawsuit brought by Lurry’s wife, Nicole Lurry, who accused four police officers of engaging in “willful and wanton acts and reckless conduct” which led her husband’s death.

After Thursday’s hearing, Tomczak said he filed the motion to dismiss for prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury because he didn’t believe “the grand jury really understood the crime they were indicting.”

Tomczak said his amended motion for failure to state an offense was in regard to the phrasing of the charges against Esqueda, which he said was vague.

Another motion seeks to have Esqueda’s case dismissed by arguing Kendall County is an improper place for trial. The fourth requests that prosecutors furnish Esqueda with a bill of particulars.

The bill of particulars would require prosecutors to specify and explain every aspect of the indictment, such as the meaning of the word “locked,” what “personal advantage” Esqueda allegedly sought to obtain and why Esqueda allegedly accessing the WatchGuard system while not on duty was “an act forbidden by law to perform.”

Joliet police reports obtained by The Herald-News showed investigators interviewed a witness who claimed Esqueda indicated he would use the Lurry video “as his ‘Trump Card’ if he was given discipline” over internal investigations into his conduct.

“Sgt. Esqueda felt if he was going to get discipline for his internals, the officers and supervisors in the Lurry video should be internally investigated and receive discipline, as well,” the police reports said.