Man accused of YouTube threats to Barrington Hills police, Allstate employees found fit for trial

A man who is accused of threatening on YouTube videos to shoot Barrington Hills police officers — and who had been deemed unfit to stand trial — has been restored to fitness, a judge ruled Thursday.

Joel A. Koskinen, 35, of Barrington Hills, was charged earlier this year with threatening a public official and electronic harassment involving an obscene message or threat to kill. But in September he was found unfit to stand trial, documents filed in McHenry County court show.

He received mental health treatment while in custody of the Illinois Department of Human Service Lake Behavioral Hospital, then returned to the county jail, records show.

In court Thursday, Judge Mark Gerhardt found Koskinen is now fit for trial, and Koskinen requested his attorney participate in negotiation conferences, records show.

“Now that Joel has been found fit to stand trial, we are beginning discussions with the State regarding a resolution to his case that would allow him to be reunited with his family and continue his undergraduate studies at Arizona State University,” his attorney Brian Stevens said.

Koskinen is accused of posting a video “containing a threat to shoot (an officer) in the head,” according to a criminal complaint. He also allegedly said, “I will now kill every cop in Barrington Hills Police Department.”

In handwritten letters to the court, Koskinen said he’s not guilty of any crimes.

“Please understand the difference between felony and misdemeanor and see why a person cannot be guilty of two felonies over a YouTube video,” Koskinen wrote, according to court records. “This has never happened in the history of the world. You won’t have one court trial that you can reference. Because it’s not a possible move, dude.”

He also wrote that his YouTube channel is an “art piece.”

“My words are part of a protest and act of self-defense,” Koskinen said.

In one letter, Koskinen wrote that Barrington Hills police will be “punished” for not respecting free speech rights, invading his privacy and “not understanding what is humor, comedy or joke,” according to court records.

In detaining Koskinen at his first court appearance in July, Judge Cynthia Lamb said that in other videos Koskinen posted on YouTube and other platforms, he threatened “to rape and kill police officers, specifically threatening to cut off the legs of the officers, (and) threatened to rape and kill Allstate employees. (The) defendant also threatened that Arizona State University employees all get shot in the head.”

Koskinen is due back in a courtroom Jan. 7.