Defense, prosecutor trade accusations

A McHenry County prosecutor and defense lawyers for two former police officers convicted of beating a man while off duty traded heated accusations of unethical behavior and incompetent legal work Thursday during a hearing to determine whether the two ex-cops deserve a new trial.

Lawyers for Ronald L. Pilati and Jerome Volstad claim authorities tampered with evidence, namely recordings of 911 calls, leading up to their October trial on charges they and a third former officer handcuffed a man outside a Fox Lake tavern and repeatedly punched and kicked him in the head and face.

At the trial's end a jury convicted Pilati, 36, and Volstad, 42, on charges of aggravated battery, unlawful restraint, mob action and obstructing justice stemming from the February 2005 incident in the parking lot of KC's Cabin. Both men, former police officers in Spring Grove, now face up to five years in prison when sentenced.

But before then, McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon will issue a ruling Feb. 4 on not only their request for a new trial, but also a special prosecutor to investigate their claims of evidence tampering.

Defense lawyers insist authorities edited out portions of 911 calls made during the 2005 altercation to remove dialogue that would exonerate their clients.

"Whether the jury came to a correct verdict or not, they came to it based on tainted evidence," Pilati attorney Thomas Loizzo said. "If the evidence is tainted, then you're going to have a tainted verdict."

Volstad attorney Alfred Stavros later added: "In my 30 years (as an attorney) I've never seen such deplorable conduct by a prosecutor."

The case's lead prosecutor, Nichole Owens, called the tampering claims a misrepresentation of the facts, and she accused defense lawyers of inventing them to cover for their own trial errors.

"It's not my fault they may have been incompetent in preparing a defense for their clients," said Owens, criminal chief for the McHenry County state's attorney.