After 8 Years Awaiting Murder Trial, Joliet Defendant Seeks Release

JOLIET, IL —Rodolfo Trujillo has lived in Will County's Jail for eight years and two weeks, and now, the Joliet first-degree murder defendant is utilizing the SAFE-T-Act asking that Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius let him return to his family's home in the Plainfield area, in the 2900 block of Reflection Court, where the homicide happened.

"The defendant agrees to comply with all pretrial conditions set by this honorable court in this matter," states the motion filed by Trujillo's latest private counsel, attorney Chuck Bretz.

According to Bretz's filing, the now-27-year-old Trujillo is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery.

"Although the defendant is charged with detainable offenses ... the defendant does not pose a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the community, nor is the defendant a risk for willful flight from prosecution ..." Bretz's motion indicates.

Meanwhile, the Will County State's Attorney's Office, led by Jim Glasgow, is strongly opposed to letting Trujillo leave the Will County Jail while his murder case is pending at the Will County Courthouse.

As 2023 draws to a close, no trial date is on the Will County court docket for Trujillo's murder case.

Eight years ago this month, around 10 p.m. Nov. 8, 2015, Joliet police responded to Trujillo's family's home in the 2900 block of Reflection Court, off County Line Road.

The surviving stabbing victim, Andres Ochoa, told officers he knew Trujillo for a long time and Trujillo was having people over his house. Ochoa indicated he pulled his car into the cul-de-sac, and Trujillo ran up to the car and stabbed Rudy Valdez.

At the time, Valdez was in the front passenger seat. After being stabbed in the neck, Valdez tried to run from the car, and that's when Trujillo confronted Ochoa near the car and stabbed him, too, in the abdomen, according to prosecutors.

Despite being stabbed, Ochoa made it back to the car and another person drove Ochoa to the hospital, where he was treated for his non-life threatening stab wound. Valdez, on the other hand, lay down in a yard where he died of his multiple stab wounds, including the neck wound, according to the court records.

"Defendant was taken to the police station, where he eventually admitted to stabbing Valdez," Will County prosecutors outlined in their petition to deny Trujillo's petition for pretrial release. "There had been a fight between the two groups approximately 20 minutes prior to this incident, but Ochoa and Valdez returned to the house because they believed the argument had been resolved."

A hearing on Trujillo's SAFE-T-Act petition for pretrial release will be heard next week by Judge Cornelius. The hearing is set for 9 a.m. on Nov. 28.

"The People pray that this honorable court deny the defendant pretrial release," the State's Attorney filing indicated.

Related Joliet Police coverage:

Year 8: Joliet Murder Defendant Still In Jail Awaiting Trial

Joliet's Rodolfo Trujillo Did Not Commit 1st Degree Murder: Witness

Year 7: Joliet Murder Defendant Still In Jail Awaiting Trial

48 Murder Defendants In Will County Await Trial