Judge Says Crime Lab 'Recklessly' Violated Court Order In Murder Trial Of Accused Romeo Nance Accomplice

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include comment from the Will County State's Attorney's Office.

JOLIET, IL — The prosecution in the murder trial against Shorewood resident and Milwaukee King gang member Jon Hansen was dealt a blow Wednesday, with a Will County Judge ruling that the crime lab's handling of the murder weapon violated her court order.

Hansen, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, accused of helping now-dead accused Joliet mass murderer Romeo Nance commit a Joliet Township killing and a non-fatal shooting of another person in January 2024.

Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre found Wednesday that the Joliet crime lab "recklessly" violated her court order that a forensic expert be present for any DNA testing on the gun used in the crimes—an instruction that was not followed, Colon-Sayre said.

The DNA evidence was then destroyed in early June, Hansen's attorney Jeff Tomczak said.

The jury, then, should consider any results as "favorable to the Defendant," the judge ruled.

"This ruling will have a devastating effect on the State's already tenuous prosecution of my client," said defense attorney Anna Rose Bertani. "It is not favorable for any party to be called out in front of the jury for violating the Court's Order. Obviously, we will argue, had the Court's Order been followed, the results would have shown Romeo Nance's DNA on the trigger."

State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow on Thursday issued comment on the ruling.

"The State Attorney's Office is currently reviewing the order and its implications," Glasgow said. "We remain committed to ensuring that all evidence presented in court meets the highest legal and scientific standards. Because this matter is still subject to ongoing legal proceedings and potential appellate review, it would be inappropriate to comment further on the specifics of the court's findings at this time.

On Jan. 21, 2024, Nance killed eight members of his family. He later fled Joliet after officials say he shot two additional victims, killing one, while chanting "we're all going to die today” and referring to suicide by cop.

The next day, in a confrontation with U.S. Marshals after fleeing to Texas, Nance fatally shot himself.

RELATED: 'Romeo Nance's Reign Of Terror' In Joliet Is Over: Sheriff's Office

Detectives later said they determined that Hansen had been with Nance before the fatal shooting of Toyosi Bakare in Joliet Township, and nonfatal shooting of Mario Guerrero on Davis Street in Joliet.

Officials said Hansen told police he'd thrown the gun into the DuPage River near his home, where it was recovered.

"Despite the defendant's cooperation with the police in the recovery of the handgun, the Will County State's Attorney's Office charged the Defendant with First-Degree Murder on May 31, 2024," Tomczak wrote in a release Wednesday.

After the judge's ruling that the state lab had violated her court order, Bertani and Tomczak filed a motion to dismiss the murder charges, or in the alternative, for sanctions against the state for the violation. The court granted the motion on June 24 but did not dismiss the murder charges.

Colon-Sayre called the state's violation of her court order "reckless" and "negligent." She declined to dismiss the case, but said that the jury would be told of the violation and instructed on how to consider the findings.

"The crime lab's cavalier response to the court's order in a first-degree murder prosecution involving the murder of a total of nine individuals is beyond inadequate; despite it being a felony to destroy DNA evidence, all the crime lab decided to do was a compliance inquiry," Tomczak said. "No individuals were disciplined, suspended, or terminated for jeopardizing this first-degree murder prosecution. In the interest of justice, it is our hope that the crime lab will improve its procedures and, most importantly, its respect for the court's orders and directives."