No Physical Evidence Gilbert Bernal Murdered Joan Bernal: Former Judge Turned Defense Attorney Dave Carlson

JOLIET, IL — After being the presiding judge of Will County's felony division for several years, attorney Dave Carlson felt right at home on Wednesday afternoon, back in his former Courtroom 405, this time arguing on behalf of 82-year-old Joliet murder defendant Gilbert Bernal.

Both animated and argumentative, Carlson raised his voice, suggesting that his client needs to be released from the Will County Jail and allowed to reside here in the community of Joliet, or back in Flint, Michigan, where he has been living since 2018.

Wednesday marked the SAFE-T-Act detention hearing for Bernal. Prosecutors at the Will County State's Attorney's Office identified at least 10 to 12 different witnesses, going to back to the 1970s, who suggested that Gilbert Bernal is very violent, abusive and dangerous. Bernal and his wife Joan lived on Joliet's east side, in the 100 block of Zarley Boulevard. December 1988 was the last time she was ever seen alive. She was a bus driver for Joliet's PACE transit service while Gilbert Bernal worked as a diesel mechanic at the bus barn off South Chicago Street.

"Let's cut to the chase, none of it has to do with alleging murder," Carlson argued. Carlson suggested the prosecution portrayed his client as a bad dad and a bad guy, a bad human, "but we don't do justice that way in criminal cases, we do facts. There is no evidence presented as to murder. There is no specificity."

Carlson explained that Will County's criminal justice system does not convict people of first-degree murder based on conclusions reached by viewers watching cable television shows or from listening to true-crime podcasts. The Joan Bernal case, in recent years, was featured by both.

Last September, the Oxygen channel's "Cold Justice" true-crime show, aired a one-hour segment on the Joan Bernal disappearance and her presumed murder and the renewed efforts of the Will County Sheriff's Office to hold her killer accountable.

Joan Bernal vanished from her Joliet home in December 1988 and was never seen alive. By the late 1990s, she was legally declared dead by the courts, according to Wednesday's testimony.

During Wednesday's arguments, Carlson looked at the Courtroom 405 clock, and he panned the entire courtroom. The court gallery was filled with several relatives who are sympathetic to Joan Bernal, and they sat directly behind the prosecutors. On the other hand, Gilbert Bernal had several of his current family members present as well, sitting on the defense table side of the courtroom.

Remarking that it was 1:58 p.m. on Feb. 4, 2026, Carlson noted how "nobody in this courtroom can tell you what happened to Ms. Bernal. The whole picture is missing. There is no evidence presented as to the circumstances about Ms. Bernal, wherever she is. There's nothing, zero."

Carlson re-read the first-degree murder charge from his client's indictment.

He reminded Will County Judge Art Smigielski that the indictment "is woefully lacking in facts that Mr. Bernal committed the offense."

Carlson said that presenting witness testimony inferring that Mr. Bernal "is a bad guy" does not equate to convicting someone of first-degree murder.

"A crime has not been established," Carlson insisted. "This isn't a TV show. This isn't a podcast. It's woefully inadequate. Thirty-eight years I think it is and not a stitch of evidence tying Mr. Bernal to Ms. Bernal's disappearance. Nothing. No physical evidence. Nothing. Facts make a criminal case."

Carlson also argued that the Will County order of protection mentioned during earlier testimony by his client's daughter, Sarita, was filed in June 2003 and was ultimately dismissed because she failed to sustain her burden of proof.

As for the fact that prosecutors pointed out how Gilbert Bernal has made 31 trips across the U.S. Border into Mexico in recent years, Carlson had this response: "Thirty-one times. They made an issue of going to Mexico. He comes back!" Carlson announced.

Carlson maintained that his client, at age 82, is definitely not a flight risk if Judge Smigielski releases him from the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act.

Carlson maintained that Bernal still has lots of his current relatives living in Joliet and that he continued to live in Joliet until 2018.

Back in 1993, Bernal was arrested for the first-degree murder of his wife, and he paid 10 percent of his $250,000 bail to regain his freedom. However, the trial never happened, because the Will County State's Attorney's Office opted to drop its murder case against Bernal in 1994 — only to revive the case and refile the murder charges against him on Jan. 2 of this year.

"By the way, at what point is it he became a danger? Was it 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000? 2021, 2022?" Carlson wondered. "When did he became dangerous. They want to back you into a corner with all these other things that allegedly happened," Carlson told Judge Smigielski.

Carlson explained that under the Illinois SAFE-T-Act, whether judges or attorneys like it or not, "everybody is presumed to be released. And the law has to be followed. You don't have to like the law."

Judge Smigielski gave no hint whatsoever which direction he is leaning on ruling in regard to the SAFE-T-Act and whether Gilbert Bernal should remain in the Will County Jail. The judge announced that he wanted to take the matter under advisement before issuing his decision. After talking with all four lawyers and reviewing everyone's schedules, Judge Smigielski will reconvene the case next Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. back in his regular Courtroom 503 to announce his decision.