Sentencing Date Set for John Granat as Judge Denies Motion for New Trial

BRIDGEVIEW, IL -- Striding into the courtroom, a bearded John Granat wearing a canary yellow jail uniform, along with his public defenders and Cook County prosecutors met on Friday for post-trial motions before Judge Neil Linehan.

The 22-year-old former Palos Park man was found guilty by a jury on Jan. 18 for the slayings of his parents, John and Maria Granat. Granat was a senior at Stagg High School when he convinced three other teens to bludgeon his parents to death as they slept on Sept. 11, 2011, prosecutors said.

Granat’s former best friend and co-defendant Christopher Wyma, 22, was also found guilty in the same double-murder, double-jury trial.

>>> 'Scared' Killer Denied New Trial, Complains About His Attorney

Linehan denied Granat’s motion for a new trial, repeating what he had said during Wyma’s post-trial hearing on Wednesday, that the “physical, scientific and oral evidence” against both men was overwhelming.

“I want to congratulate both sides for deciding which evidence each jury should hear,” the judge said. “[The prosecutors] precisely dissected out information that applied to each defendant. The rulings were correct."

The judge also rejected motions to quash Granat’s arrest because “co-conspirator” statements allegedly made by the other co-defendants.

“They were classic,” Linehan said. “The defendants not only planned and executed the crimes, they searched the [Granat] house for contraband given the number of times they went in and out of the bedroom. They planned what they were going to do to not get caught.”

Assistant public defender LaFonzo Palmer handed a report to the judge, stating that the “report’s author” would be speaking at his client’s sentencing.

Unlike Wyma’s post-trial hearing, where he spoke out in court about his team of public defenders' "ineffective counsel," Granat sat quietly at the defense table with his public defenders, reading their motions on his behalf. He did not look at his mother’s sisters and brother-in-law sitting across the courtroom.

Granat, who faces a possible sentence of natural life in prison, will be sentenced on March 23.