Amari Morgan Pleads To 2nd Degree Murder, Gets Out Will County Jail

JOLIET, IL — In a success for attorney Jeff Tomczak of the Tomczak Law Group, his client, Amari Morgan, received a maximum 20-year prison term as part of a plea deal, but Morgan was scheduled to get out of the Will County Jail Monday afternoon, thanks to time already served and a slew of extra good-time and educational credits.

Now 25 years old, Morgan was 17 when he clubbed his family's long-time next door neighbor, 62-year-old Bob Bielec, over the head numerous times with a baseball bat. The attack happened moments after Bielec pulled his car into his driveway, late at night, on Jan. 7, 2016.

Morgan and his older brother Blaique Morgan orchestrated the attack on their neighbor who lived at 1704 Houston Ave. Bielec died from a skull fracture, and his clothes were covered by his blood. He died with a cigarette in one hand and his keys in the other hand, according to prosecutors, proving that the attack by the Morgan brothers was premeditated.

This month, as part of a plea bargain, Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow and his team of prosecutors opted to dismiss Amari Morgan's first-degree murder charges in exchange for a guilty plea to second-degree murder.

According to the terms of Monday's plea bargain in front of Judge Vincent Cornelius:

Amari Morgan was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum punishment for second-degree murder in Illinois. However, Morgan received credit for time already served, a staggering 2,944 days, inside the Will County Jail. Morgan has been in custody for eight years and three weeks now.

In addition to the eight years of time already served, Morgan was given 90 days of credit for obtaining his G.E.D., plus another 90 days for completing various courses in the jail including anger management, and another 770 days of extra credit for work assignment completions.

Judge Cornelius also announced that the 20-year prison term would be served at 50 percent.

According to Tomczak, there was a pretrial motion to suppress hearing earlier this month involving his client's January 2016 interview with Will County Sheriff's investigators, and the Will County prosecutors chose to suspend the motion to suppress hearing rather than go through with it.

"And they indicated they would be offering second-degree murder," Tomczak explained Monday. "We absolutely refused to plead to first-degree murder. This was always a second-degree murder case. (Amari) made it clear that his actions were defending his mother. He believed that (Bob Bielec) had shot up his mother's house."

In late 2022, Amari's older brother, Blaique Morgan, was found guilty of first-degree murder by Judge Vincent Cornelius, and he is now serving a 27-year prison term.

Last June, at Blaique Morgan's sentencing, Judge Cornelius told everyone that the 62-year-old Bielec exhibited peculiar behavior in the days leading up to his murder. Bielec had wandered over toward the Morgan house, and he was accused of making a sexual remark to the 15-year-old sister of the Morgan brothers.

At Monday's sentencing, Amari Morgan stood up from his seat at the defense table and spoke for several minutes. He wanted Bob Bielec's friends and family seated in the first two rows of the courtroom to know, "I am sorry for my actions that would ever cause a death."

Amari Morgan said he had no motivation "to kill Bob," his long-time neighbor and that prior to the events of Jan. 7, 2016, Amari Morgan was focused on "being a kid in school" and playing basketball.

"I played sports my whole life," Amari Morgan told the courtroom. "I just hope you guys don't hate me. If you do, I understand."

Amari Morgan ended his statement to Judge Cornelius' courtroom by letting everyone from Bielec's family know, "I love you guys."

After the sentencing, Joliet Patch interviewed a couple, Tommy and Traci Larson, who have known Amari Morgan through their church and he played youth basketball with their son. The Larsons hired attorney Jeff Tomczak two years ago to take over Amari Morgan's defense. Prior to that, he, like, his brother, were represented by the Will County Public Defender's Office.

The Larsons said that Amari Morgan has a reputation of being a very respectful inmate toward the corrections guards at the Will County Jail. In addition to obtaining his GED, he took anger management classes and other classes to advance his education.

The Larsons said there were no racial tensions at all between Amari Morgan and Robert Bielec. They said that the 17-year-old Amari Morgan was on his way toward obtaining a college scholarship for basketball until he participated in the driveway attack, ending the life of his 62-year-0ld neighbor.

On the night of the murder, Amari Morgan had been playing at a basketball game until around 9:30 p.m. they said. So why did the Larsons become involved in helping Amari Morgan obtain a better criminal defense lawyer?

"We wanted him to have a chance at life," Tommy Larson said of Amari. "Jeff (Tomczak) did a really good job. I highly recommend him. I think it was second-degree all the way."

As for the death of Bielec, the Larsons said of Amari, "he went out to protect his mom."

The Larsons, who live in Joliet, said that Amari Morgan is welcome to live at their home once he gets released from the Will County Jail, which may happen Monday.

"He can come and live with us. He wants to reach kids like him in a bad situation or a bad area. He spent eight years in jail."