Jeremy Boshears Case: Conviction, Overturn, and Retrial

The Jeremy Boshears case is an ongoing Will County, Illinois murder prosecution in which a former Outlaws motorcycle club member was convicted in 2022 of killing 24-year-old Joliet bartender Kaitlyn “Katie” Kearns, had that conviction overturned in January 2024 because of prosecutorial misconduct, and remains held at the Will County Jail awaiting a retrial. Boshears has been in continuous custody since his arrest on November 18, 2017.¹

The Night Katie Kearns Died

On November 12, 2017, Boshears and Kearns went to the Outlaws motorcycle club’s members-only clubhouse in Joliet Township after spending time at Woody’s Bar in Joliet, where they both worked and had recently started dating.² Boshears was married at the time. He had told Kearns’ father he was “in love with” her and was getting a divorce.³ In the ten days before her death, the two had exchanged roughly 530 text messages.¹

While at the clubhouse, Kearns began receiving sexually explicit text messages from an ex-boyfriend around 1:45 a.m. Prosecutors later argued those messages set off the killing. According to Assistant Will County State’s Attorney Dan Egan, Boshears shot Kearns after she received them.³ Kearns died from a single gunshot wound to the head.⁴

Her father reported her missing on November 14, 2017. Police found her body in the back of her 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee inside a pole barn in Aroma Park Township, Kankakee County, about 50 miles from Joliet.²

The Evidence Against Boshears

Investigators built a case around forensic evidence, phone records, and testimony from another Outlaws member. After Kearns was shot, Boshears placed more than 30 calls to fellow Outlaws.¹ Colby O’Neal, a probationary member who had been at the clubhouse earlier and left around 2:00 a.m., testified that Boshears called him back saying, “I need you to come back, something happened.” When he returned, he saw Boshears and another Outlaws member wrapping an object in a pool table cover and loading it into the back of Kearns’ Jeep. Boshears told him he was “going to Kankakee.”⁵

Boshears then drove Kearns’ body to the Kankakee County barn. Four hours after moving her, he sent her a text: “I hope you made it home okay.” Prosecutors called that a deliberate attempt to create a false trail.¹ O’Neal testified that in the days that followed, he accompanied Boshears to buy cleaning products and a smoke detector. They bleached the clubhouse and placed the smoke detector over a bullet hole in the ceiling. O’Neal received prosecutorial immunity in exchange for his testimony and acknowledged on cross-examination that he had “lied by omission” in his initial police interviews.⁶

Forensic analysis matched a bullet fragment recovered from the clubhouse ceiling to a .45-caliber firearm found at Boshears’ home. Gunshot residue was found on a flannel shirt at his residence consistent with the one he wore that night. No gunshot residue was found on Kearns’ hands.¹

Boshears was arrested on November 18, 2017. Will County Circuit Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes signed the warrant, and bond was set at $10 million.⁷ He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death.²

The 2022 Trial and the Suicide Defense

Trial began on April 20, 2022, before Will County Judge Dave Carlson.⁸ Boshears took the stand and testified that Kearns had shot herself at the clubhouse and that he had transported her body to the barn afterward.⁹

The defense called Arthur Borchers, a retired Oak Park police detective and forensic consultant with Larsen Forensics & Associates, who testified that Kearns died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Borchers pointed to the bullet’s upward trajectory into the ceiling rafters and argued that Boshears would have had to fire from an “unnatural position with his wrist cocked” given the pair’s relative positions. To illustrate, Borchers held a replica gun to his own head at the angle he believed Kearns used.¹⁰

During cross-examination, Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Platek stood behind Borchers and held the replica to Borchers’ head at the same angle, arguing the position was also consistent with someone else pulling the trigger. Defense attorney Chuck Bretz objected, and Judge Carlson scolded Platek for referencing information from a state expert who had not yet testified, at one point saying, “I think I’m losing my mind.”¹⁰ A prosecution expert separately testified that it could not be definitively determined whether Kearns died by suicide or homicide, in part because club members had destroyed the crime scene by cleaning it.⁹

The jury convicted Boshears of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death, a Class 3 felony. He faced 45 years to life in prison.⁸

Why the Conviction Was Overturned

After the verdict, Bretz filed a 31-page motion in August 2023 alleging “repeated and consistent episodes of prosecutorial misconduct” by Platek. The core allegations were that Platek made himself a “quasi-witness” through the physical demonstration with the prop weapon; that he referenced the mafia and John Gotti during closing arguments; that prosecutors labeled the Outlaws a “criminal enterprise” and called Boshears and club members “criminals” in front of the jury; and that prosecutors misstated evidence and distorted witness testimony during closing arguments.¹¹

On January 24, 2024, Judge Carlson granted a new trial, ruling that the “cumulative effect” of the errors required it. He did not overturn the jury verdict to enter an acquittal, so the charges still stood.¹² Carlson said the prosecutorial mistakes were not “nefarious” or “malicious.”¹³

Why Boshears Is Still in Jail

Bretz then moved to dismiss the indictment on double jeopardy grounds, arguing the misconduct was deliberate and intended either to prejudice the jury or to goad the defense into seeking a mistrial. Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Shlifka responded that double jeopardy applies only when a conviction is reversed for insufficient evidence and denied any intent to provoke a mistrial. On April 23, 2024, Judge Carlson denied the motion, finding the conduct was not malicious or nefarious.¹³

Bretz separately sought Boshears’ release under the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act (the SAFE-T Act), arguing his client posed neither a flight risk nor a threat and had been jailed nearly seven years.¹⁴ On April 24, 2024, Judge Carlson granted pretrial release subject to 24-hour home confinement and electronic monitoring, with a release date of May 20.¹⁵

Boshears never walked out. Judge Carlson retired shortly after the ruling, the case was reassigned to Will County Judge Jessica Colón-Sayre, and prosecutors moved to vacate. On May 16, 2024, Colón-Sayre agreed with the State that Carlson had failed to make the statutory findings the Pretrial Fairness Act requires, so the detention analysis had to start over. After a full hearing and a review of the trial record, she issued her own ruling on May 20, 2024, denying release. She found the proof evident that Boshears committed a detainable offense, that he posed a real and present threat to the community and to witnesses who had testified against him, and that he was a flight risk given his efforts to conceal the crime. No conditions, she concluded, could adequately mitigate those risks.¹⁶ Bretz called the decision “disappointing” and said the court had ruled “without really going into the heart of the matters that we presented.”¹⁷

On January 15, 2025, the Illinois Appellate Court, Third District, affirmed the detention order in People v. Boshears, No. 3-24-0599. The court held that because the prior judge had failed to make the statutory findings, the new judge properly started the process over, and it found no abuse of discretion on the merits, citing the nature of the offense, Boshears’ disposal of the body, his cleaning of the crime scene, his access to weapons, and the potential threat to witnesses.¹

Where the Case Stands

Boshears has been in continuous custody at the Will County Jail since November 18, 2017, more than seven years. As of January 2025, no retrial date had been set. A status hearing was scheduled for January 30, 2025, at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.¹⁸ The case is listed under Will County Circuit No. 17-CF-2295. The defense continues to maintain that Kearns’ death was self-inflicted; the prosecution continues to seek a second conviction for first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death. By the time of the 2024 detention hearing, Boshears was no longer a member of the Outlaws.¹

1
Illinois Courts. People v. Boshears, 2025 IL App (3d) 240599-U
2
Fox 32 Chicago. Katie Kearns Murder: Jeremy Boshears Gets New Trial in Death of Joliet Bartender
3
Patch. Jeremy Boshears Murdered Katie Kearns, Covered Up Crime, Prosecutors Say
4
NBC Chicago. Woman Missing After Joliet Bartending Shift Found Killed
5
WJOL. Something Happened: Testimony in First-Degree Murder Trial of Outlaw Motorcycle Member
6
Shaw Local News Network. Outlaw Prospect Testifies About Alleged Cover-Up of Woman’s Death
7
Will County Sheriff’s Office. $10 Million Bond Set
8
WJOL. Jeremy Boshears Found Guilty of Murder
9
WIVR. Boshears Murder Case Goes to Jury
10
Shaw Local News Network. Defense Expert Testifies in Joliet Outlaw Murder Case
11
Shaw Local News Network. Attorney Ramps Up Efforts for New Trial in Joliet Outlaws Murder Case
12
Audacy. New Trial for Man Found Guilty in Joliet Outlaws Murder
13
Shaw Local News Network. Judge Denies Dismissal of Joliet Outlaws Murder Case
14
Patch. Jeremy Boshears to Regain Freedom 7 Years After Katie Kearns’ Death
15
ABC 7 Chicago. Will County Judge Rules Jeremy Boshears Can Be Released
16
Shaw Local News Network. New Judge in Joliet Outlaws Murder Case Denies Man’s Jail Release
17
CBS News Chicago. Man Accused of Killing Woman Remains in Joliet Jail
18
Shaw Local News Network. Ex-Joliet Outlaws Member’s Pretrial Detention in Murder Case Upheld by Appellate Court