Tomczak: Sheriff's Office Lost Evidence In Attempted Murder Case

NEW LENOX, IL - On July 27, 2017, the Will County Sheriff's Department hauled off Jeffrey Zamecnik on charges of attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated battery. The Mokena man in his late forties was accused of stabbing his estranged wife's boyfriend at a house in New Lenox while kids were having a sleepover there.

Ten months later, Zamecnik, 49, remains in custody. He's still inside the Will County Jail, but this week, his criminal defense attorney filed a motion at the Will County Courthouse that aims to spring his client free. Attorney Jeff Tomczak of The Tomczak Law Group filed a motion to asking a judge to dismiss the prosecution's case against Zamecnik or, in the alternative, impose sanctions upon the State of Illinois. The Will County State's Attorney's Office has been given until May 25 to file its written response on the matter.

According to Tomczak Law Group's motion, a judge entered an order last September requiring the authorities of Will County to preserve all of their evidence as part of their criminal investigation against Zamecnik. "The discovery tendered by the plaintiff indicates that on July 26, 2017 deputies Moran and Whitted conducted a videotaped interview with the alleged victim ... at Silver Cross Hospital," Tomczak's motion contends.

"Said video consisted of the only verbatim statement by the victim relating the events forming the charges against the defendant."

Fast forward to April 24, 2018.

The defense team was informed "that the video was not properly placed into evidence, not preserved immediately after the interview and with no fault of the defendant, can no longer be located," Tomczak's motion informs the court.

Based on the disappearance of the videotaped statement, Tomczak has asked a judge to "dismiss the indictment as a result of the destruction of significant evidence favorable to the defendant in violation of his Due Process rights."

At bare minimum, Tomczak wants the court to exclude "all evidence which would have been on said video or other sanction as the court may rule to be appropriate."

According to previous news articles, Zamecnik is accused of sneaking into the New Lenox man's home during the middle of the night and stabbing the man with a pocket knife. Patch previously reported that the victim suffered several stab wounds and a collapsed lung during the attack.

The defendant, a Mokena resident, resided in the 12000 block of West Josephine Drive.

ORIGINAL STORY: Ex-Husband Accused Of Stabbing Boyfriend With Knife

Mugshot via Will County Sheriff's Department