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Streator strangulation case on hold over evidence dispute · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Streeter strangulation case on holdover evidence dispute. Written by Tom Collins.
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  This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  to you by Everlett. A. Streeter man charged with strangling
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  a woman last year will not stand trial for murder
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  on June first. Instead, Joshua Casey and his lawyers will
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  ask a judge to throw out the charges. Joshua Casey, forty,
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  appeared Friday in LaSalle County Circuit Court, a week ahead
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  of schedule on his pending charge of first degree murder.
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  He would face up to sixty years if convicted of
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  killing Jessica Balma, who was found dead on March fourth,
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  twenty twenty five. Casey left the courtroom on Friday without
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  a new trial setting, but with a hearing on a
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  motion to dismiss charges on the grounds of tainted evidence.
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  A hearing will be held on June first before LaSalle
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  County Circuit Judge Michelle A. Vescagni. According to a filing,
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  Casey's legal team alleged's evidence was tampered with and that
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  Casey's charges should be dismissed. LaSalle County State's Attorney Joe
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  Navarro said Friday he cannot comment on specific allegations, but
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  did say the defense mischaracterized the body of evidence. There
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  was no tampering of any evidence, Navarro said, and we
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  intend to bring the defendant to trial. Casey has been
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  in custody for fourteen months. On March fourth, twenty twenty five,
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  Streeter police were alerted to a residence in the eleven
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  hundred block of East Elm Street. There, they found the
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  thirty seven year old Balma dead from strangulation. The scene
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  also showed what prosecutors termed intent to remove her body
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  from the scene.