People v. Martinez

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.