Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
Jeremy Boshears, now 40, has lived in Will County's Jail for eight entire years. At his 2022 trial, he testified Katie Kearns shot herself. JOLIET, IL — Eight years ago this week, on Nov. 12, 2017, Jeremy Boshears of the Joliet Outlaws motorcycle club and fellow member, Colby O'Neal, patronized Woody's Bar in Joliet while Katie Kearns tended bar. After leaving Woody's, the two men drove separately back to their Outlaws clubhouse in the Ingalls Park area of Joliet's east side. Forty-five minutes later, Kearns arrived there, too. "Defendant was infatuated with Kearns and he was contemplating leaving his wife for her. Defendant's search history included, 'I found the one, but I'm married' and 'When is it time to leave a long-term relationship," court records from January show. Boshears let Kearns know he wanted to make her his "queen" and she touched his "soul," according to the 330 text messages Boshears sent to Kearns including one reading, "I want you and only you." Inside the clubhouse, Kearns began receiving text messages from an ex-boyfriend that were sexual in nature around 1:45 a.m. and by 2 a.m., O'Neal began driving home back to Seneca. That left only two people at the motorcycle clubhouse, Kearns and Boshears. Kearns kept receiving text messages from her ex-boyfriend until 2:08 a.m. Then he called her at 2:16 a.m. As for Boshears, "over the next 90 minutes, defendant made over 30 phone calls to various Outlaws members. One phone call defendant placed was to O'Neal, and defendant requested O'Neal return to the clubhouse," court files show. Inside the clubhouse, Kearns, 24, was dead from a gunshot wound. During the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2017, Boshears and O'Neal met with Outlaws president Jimmy McCoy along with fellow Outlaw Corey Espland. "They rolled Kearns' dead body inside a pool table cover and placed it in the back of Kearns' vehicle," court records reveal. "Defendant drove Kearns' vehicle to the residence of Ronald and Georgia Keagle in Kankakee, Illinois, which was approximately 50 miles from the clubhouse." Ron Keagle was the previous president of the Joliet Outlaws. At the farm property in Kankakee County, "defendant did not tell Ronald that Kearns' dead body was inside the vehicle. Defendant, Ronald and Georgia pushed Kearns' vehicle into a barn. Ronald then drove defendant to his residence," court documents indicate. On Nov. 15, 2017, Will County Sheriff's detectives found Kearns' body in the barn. She died from a gunshot to her head. That same day, back in Joliet, Boshears and O'Neal patronized various Joliet retail stores purchasing cleaning products and a smoke detector. "They returned to the clubhouse to clean it and placed the smoke detector over a bullet hole," court transcripts reflect. By Nov. 18, Will County police found that the Outlaws clubhouse ceiling was cleaned with bleach and the new smoke detector covered a bullet hole. The bullet fragment was recovered from inside the ceiling rafters, and it came from a .45-caliber handgun. Since being charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide, Boshears retained downtown Joliet lawyer Chuck Bretz. During his April-May 2022 jury trial. Boshears testified in his defense, claiming Kearns grabbed a loaded handgun that one of his fellow Joliet Outlaws left behind the clubhouse's bar and shot herself in the head as he begged her not to do it. "The defense's position was that defendant merely moved Kearns' body because he had to because of the Outlaws' bylaws," the Illinois Third District Court of Appeals announced in January. "The state rejected this explanation and referenced a text message defendant sent to Kearns four hours after moving her body, which stated, 'I hope you made it home okay.'" In May 2022, the Will County jury found Boshears guilty of first-degree murder and guilty of concealment of a homicide. However, Will County Circuit Judge Dave Carlson did not move forward with the sentencing. Instead, he allowed Boshears to remain in the Will County Jail while working on his appeal. In January 2024, shortly before Carlson left the judge to return to private practice as a lawyer, he vacated Boshears' convictions and ordered a new trial. Then, citing the new SAFE-T-Act, Carlson ordered Boshears' release. But before Boshears walked out of the Will County Jail, the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow filed an appeal to the new judge who replaced Carlson, Jessica Colon-Sayre. On May 20, 2024, Judge Colon ruled "the proof was evident or presumption great that defendant committed a detainable offense, defendant posed a real and present threat to any person or persons or the community." She also labeled Boshears a flight risk and "noted the State met its burden of proof that defendant committed these offenses by clear and convincing evidence ... noting how extreme defendant was willing to act in not following the law, cleaning up the scene, wrapping the body, putting the body in the vehicle, traveling to another town, and leaving the body there," the Third District appeals judges explained. "The court also noted that since the jury had already returned a guilty verdict, defendant's risk of flight was great." In this year's ruling issued Jan. 15, three judges from the Appellate Court of Illinois Third District: Justice Peterson, Justice Brennan and Justice Holdridge ruled that Judge Colon did not err in vacating Judge Carlson's prior pretrial release order of Boshears. "We find the court did not abuse its discretion by detaining defendant. First, the proof was evident defendant committed a detainable offense where the evidence demonstrated defendant met with Kearns at the Clubhouse, defendant had a romantic interest in Kearns, Kearns was contacted various times by an ex-boyfriend that night, defendant was seen with a firearm that night, Kearns died while at the Clubhouse as a result of a gunshot wound to her head ..." On the final page of its 10-page ruling, the three appeals judges noted, "we reject defendant's position that the judge who presided over his jury trial and granted him pretrial release was in a better position to make a ruling on the state's petition to detain and should be afforded more deference. First, the judge failed to make the adequate findings and then retired from the bench. The only option was for the new hearing on the state's petition to detain be held before a different judge." As it stands, despite having his guilty verdicts overturned, Boshears remains one of the longest-serving inmates inside the Will County Jail. January will mark two full years since Carlson overturned his guilty verdicts, yet Boshears still does not have a date set for his second murder trial. This year, back in Courtroom 502 of Judge Colon, there have been a handful of court orders of consequence: Back in late March, Judge Colon agreed with Bretz's motion seeking permission to appoint an expert witness and provide Will County-funded expert fees due to his client being indigent. The judge granted Bretz's motion for the appointment of Jeffrey Gurvis as the defense's bloodstain pattern analyst. "The County of Will is ordered to pay the sum of $3,000 for the initial retainer for Mr. Gurvis for services rendered as to this matter," Judge Colon ordered. Then, at the end of July, Judge Colon issued her second order, granting Bretz's latest request. Bretz had asked the judge for permission to appoint another expert and provide expert fees due to Boshears being indigent. According to Judge Colon's order, Microtrace, based in Elgin, was now appointed as Boshears' gunshot residue expert and "The County of Will is ordered to pay the sum of $2,800 for the initial retainer for Microtrace for services rendered as to this matter." The third and most recent order came at the end of September. It involved health issues facing Boshears at the Will County Jail. "The defendant's motion for entry of an order is granted. The defendant is to receive any and all personal radiology reports in possession of the Will County Adult Detention Facility relating to August 25 and May 29, 2025, including records received from St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet. These records are to be kept in exclusive control of the defendant," Judge Colon ruled on Sept. 26.
