This criminal case comes from Elgin, in Kane County. Esteban Martinez was charged in 2006 with aggravated battery and mob action. The alleged victims were Avery Binion and Demarco Scott. After numerous continuances, a jury trial was scheduled to begin on May 17, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. However, the State announced it was not ready because its two main witnesses, the alleged victims, had not arrived. The prosecutor made an oral request to continue the trial just for a few moments to await the arrival of these witnesses. In response to this, in an apparent attempt to move the case forward, the trial judge proposed to begin the work of empaneling jurors without swearing them in, and the State agreed.
On October 21, 2003, an 84-year-old man died in a nursing home after pulling out his feeding tube several times, causing peritonitis, a systemic infection. He had been transferred to the nursing facility after a brief hospitalization, which had resulted from rough handling by this defendant.
On October 21, 2003, an 84-year-old man died in a nursing home after pulling out his feeding tube several times, causing peritonitis, a systemic infection. He had been transferred to the nursing facility after a brief hospitalization, which had resulted from rough handling by this defendant.
In 2003, there was a fatal helicopter crash involving an air ambulance operating in the Chicago area. The pilot, the decedent here, was living and working in Illinois as an employee of Air Angels, Inc. In an attempt to recover for his death, suit was brought in the circuit court of Cook County against a number of different entities, including defendant SNFA, which is a French company. SNFA had manufactured a custom tail-rotor bearing for the helicopter. The circuit court dismissed the suit against this defendant for lack of specific personal jurisdiction, but the appellate court held otherwise, as did the Illinois Supreme Court in this decision.