Joliet Outlaws Culture Will Be Focus Of Jeremy Boshears Trial

JOLIET, IL — Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz plans to call an expert witness to testify about the Joliet Outlaws Motorcycle Club and its culture during the upcoming first-degree murder trial of his client, Jeremy Boshears.

The trial is set to get underway Jan. 31 in Courtroom 405 of Will County Judge Dave Carlson.

Boshears has been in the Will County Jail since Nov. 18, 2017, with his bail set at $10 million. The Will County Sheriff's Office believes Boshears fatally shot bartender Katie Kearns, 24, inside the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2017.

A few days after her disappearance, Kearns' body was found in the back of her Jeep Wrangler, wrapped in a tarp and a mattress, about 60 miles from Joliet in a rural part of Kankakee County.

She died from a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Bretz said Boshears did not shoot Kearns.

Another forensic expert hired by Bretz, retired Oak Park Police Department detective, Arthur Borchers, concluded that Kearns took her own life, putting the gun to her head inside the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse, located in the Ingalls Park area of Joliet's east side.

"Law enforcement searched the building. Deputies located a hole consistent with the size of a bullet in the ceiling. They entered the building area and found a bullet ricochet mark on a roof rafter. A search revealed a spent bullet among the ceiling rafters and insulation," Boshears' lawyers argued in a court filing from April 5, 2018.

This week, Bretz revealed plans to introduce defense expert witness trial testimony from Ed Jauch, a retired law enforcement agent and expert in the motorcycle club subculture.

Jauch lives in Spring Valley.

"Mr. Jauch has expertise as an accomplished undercover agent, deputized by the FBI and U.S. Marshal, and is an expert in the motorcycle club subculture and other similar organizations and in particular as to the Joliet Outlaws Motorcycle Club culture, including, but not limited to the rules that governed the members of those organizations," Bretz notified court officials.

On Thursday, Bretz told Joliet Patch that the defense will be allowed to present evidence surrounding Kearns' mental health leading up to her death.

"We don't do this to impugn her in any way or to be disrespectful to her," Bretz explained. "She was under some mental health treatment for almost a two-year period for psychological issues."

Bretz said that at least one member of the Will County Sheriff's Office has questioned why Kearns' body was moved if she shot herself in the Joliet Outlaws Clubhouse.

Bretz said it's important for everyone to remember that this did not happen inside the Knights of Columbus or the Moose Lodge.

The notion that Joliet Outlaws members would be calling the police if someone died unexpectedly on their property isn't logical thinking, according to Bretz.

"This isn't some social club," Bretz said.

Bretz believes that testimony from both of his expert witnesses can help show his client is not guilty of murder.

"These guys are both law enforcement," Bretz remarked Thursday. "These are both former police officers. We didn't try to find defense-oriented experts."

During a pretrial hearing this week, Bretz told the judge and the three assistant Will County state's attorneys that he does not have to prove whether Kearns intended to take her own life in order to prove his client's innocence.

"I don't think it really matters whether she intended to pull the trigger," Bretz told Judge Carlson this week in court.

Leading up to her death, Kearns was depressed, having anxiety disorders, panic attacks and mood swings, and she underwent treatment at Silver Cross Hospital for a related issue three weeks before she died, Bretz claimed. That illustrates an "unhealthy thought processes," he argued this week.

Bretz said it's also possible that drama was unfolding and Kearns fired the gun, not necessarily intending to end her life.

Joliet Patch previously reported that the toxicology results for Katie Kearns showed a Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.212 and found several legal and illegal drugs. Kearns, who lived in rural Mokena, worked part-time at the Woody's Bar on East Washington Street, a Joliet bar that caters to bikers.

"We don't have to prove her intent to take her own life," Bretz said Thursday.

The Will County Sheriff's Office has said that Kearns and Boshears were romantically involved in the weeks prior to her death. Boshears grew up in the Ingalls Park area of Joliet's east side. At the time of his arrest, he and his family lived in Coal City.

At the time of his 2017 arrest, Boshears worked for S&J Door in Frankfort.

Now 36 years old, Boshears had no criminal record, aside from run-of-the-mill traffic offenses, at the time of his arrest on first-degree murder charges. Boshears was also charged with concealment of a homicidal death.

Anyone struggling with mental health can get help by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, visiting this website or by texting HOME to 741741.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Katie Kearns May Have Killed Herself: Bretz Law Firm

Tennessee Man To Testify At Boshears' Trial: Prosecutors

2 Experts May Prove Katie Kearns Shot Herself: Bretz Says