'Batman Don't Plead Guilty': Joliet Police Whistleblower Vindicated

YORKVILLE ? After being branded a criminal by his fellow command staff at the Joliet Police Department during the past four years and two months for exposing police misconduct in the death of 37-year-old arrestee Eric Lurry, it took Kendall County's criminal justice system less than five minutes to restore dignity and credibility to retired Joliet police Sgt. Javier "Butch" Esqueda.

On Monday morning, Kendall County Judge Jody Gleason agreed to accept Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis' motion, asking that the judge dismiss all four felony charges that Weis filed against Esqueda back in October 2020.

The charges were orchestrated by the Joliet Police Department when Al Roechner was the chief of police and Joe Egizio was the lieutenant of criminal investigations.

Esqueda was represented by downtown Joliet criminal defense attorney Jeff Tomczak, who met with reporters in the hallway of Courtroom 115 on Monday morning, moments after his client's criminal case was over.

"They wanted a plea, real bad," Tomczak said, of State's Attorney Weis. "Now, one of the things that people might not know is that Butch is responsible for the Star Wars parade in Joliet. He dresses up and one of his guys is here. Yoda is here with him. One of the things he dresses up as, his favorite costume, is Batman.

"So during the negotiations, it was actually kind of funny, I had to look at Eric (Weis) and Eric said will he take this, will he take that, and I had one simple answer: 'Batman don't plead guilty,'" Tomczak shared.

"And that was the end of this one, so he knew there was no angle, and we never even thought of it, but I'm proud of him for sticking it out the way he did. I'm glad he's getting a good result. It should have never happened ... I wanted to say that from the beginning. This should have never happened," Tomczak explained.

Sgt. Esqueda read a statement to news media after his criminal charges were dismissed on Monday, which was supposed to be the start of Esqueda's two-day-long bench trial in front of Judge Jody Gleason.

"I grew up in a gang and crime infested neighborhood in Chicago where we were often stopped by the police and told that we would be products of our environment," Esqueda said on Monday morning following his exoneration. "Even though these words were negative towards my community, I still viewed the police as protectors and heroes. Those negative words were used as my catalyst to become a police officer and represent all that was good and just in the profession.

"I dedicated 27 years of my life, serving the people of Joliet, treating them by the Golden Rule of treating those the way you want to be treated and always with honesty and integrity.

"Four years and 56 days ago, my life was altered in a way I could never have imagined. I was falsely accused of committing crimes, when in reality I simply exposed truths. This persecution from the Joliet Police Department's previous administration and follow through from the State's Attorney's Office had a tremendous impact on every facet of my life. These false accusations on an official police document resulted in my arrest where I was handcuffed, transported and incarcerated in the Kendall County Jail.

"From that day forward, my name and reputation were slandered by the former administration, by one biased faction of the media, and fellow others," he said.

Esqueda made it a point to single out and thank several people and organizations, including his attorney Jeff Tomczak, Dave Savini of CBS Channel 2 in Chicago, John Ferak of Joliet Patch, the Joliet Police Black Police Officers Association, the Lamplighter Project, USA Today, Spartan Dads and notably Joliet Police Detective Dave Jackson "for calling me every day from day one, showing his support and reminding me that I still have police family that know the truth and support my actions."

"Last but not least, a special thank you to the few Joliet police officers and city employees that I cannot name for fear that they will be retaliated against. I could not have endured this travesty of injustice without the support of all of you. Thank you," Esqueda declared.