Former police officers seeking new trial in beating case

Armed with new claims that prosecutors failed to disclose evidence, lawyers for two former police officers jailed for beating a man in an off-duty bar fight are again seeking a new trial for their clients.

The attorneys for ex-Spring Grove police officers Ronald Pilati and Jerome Volstad appeared in court Monday accusing prosecutors of holding onto a written statement from the beating victim until after a jury found them guilty, and then revealing it at their sentencing earlier this month.

That sentencing ended with each of the former officers -- Pilati, 36, of Melrose Park, and Volstad, 43, of Cary -- ordered to spend 90 days in the McHenry County jail on multiple felony convictions from the fight.

The defense claims center around a written statement in which victim Ryan Hallett describes the beating, but never mentions either of the former officers as participants in it. Hallett wrote the statement as part of sentencing proceedings for Brian Quilici, a third former police officer convicted in the beating.

"Had we had this statement, it would have further solidified my client's version of the case," Pilati attorney Thomas Loizzo said.

But Nichole Owens, criminal division chief for the McHenry County state's attorney's office, said she does not believe defense lawyers were entitled to the statement or that it would have helped them had Pilati's and Volstad's jury heard it.

"The jury then would have known Brian Quilici was convicted of the offenses for which their clients were standing trial," she said. "It would have been extremely prejudicial to them."

Pilati and Volstad were convicted in November of charges including aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint stemming from a Feb. 20, 2005, altercation outside KC's Cabin in Fox Lake.

Authorities say the one-time officers, along with Quilici, surrounded Hallett in the bar's parking lot, knocked him to the ground, handcuffed him and repeatedly punched and kicked him.

The new claims are the latest in a number of instances in which lawyers for Pilati and Volstad have accused prosecutors of failing to turn over evidence. However, in each of those previous instances they failed to persuade presiding Judge Joseph Condon that the state did anything improper or that the failure harmed their case.

"This is the straw that has to break the camel's back," said Volstad attorney Al Stavros.

Condon took the defense request under advisement, saying he would issue a decision March 5.