Accused of fatally shooting his wife, former soldier Joseph Jesk stood hunched over and wailing as a Cook County judge set his bail at $1 million.
The sobs of the 23-year-old Oak Lawn man soon turned into stoicism as his attorney Michael Clancy described the late Saturday shooting of Jesk’s wife, Heather, as a “tragic accident.”
“At no time did this young man intend to harm his wife,” Clancy said, but he declined to elaborate.
Prosecutors said Jesk and his wife argued in the basement of their home in the 4600 block of 101st Street in Oak Lawn after attending a fundraiser Saturday along with other family members.
One of the guests followed the couple downstairs about 10:40 p.m. and saw Jesk holding a handgun, prosecutors said. That man ran upstairs fearing for his safety, prosecutors said.
Seconds later, Jesk fired at his wife’s forehead, leaving her in a pool of blood before running out a side door, prosecutors said.
The couple’s two daughters, an 11-month-old and a 2-year-old, were not home at the time of the shooting, authorities said.
Clancy said the couple’s family were working together to take care of the young girls displaced by the killing.
After the shooting, Jesk phoned 911 and told police he’d “killed the only person he’d ever loved,” authorities said.
He was found with a folding knife near the Oak Lawn Metra station on 95th Street, police said.
As prosecutors recounted the details of the case in the cramped courtroom, family members from both sides wiped away tears and held their heads in their hands.
Jesk, standing next to his attorney, bent over and cried.
Cook County Judge Joan O’Brien barred Jesk from seeing his daughters and from contacting Heather Jesk’s parents. She also ordered him to turn over any weapons he owns and his firearm owner’s identification card.
O’Brien also allowed a request by Assistant State’s Attorney Marem Nava for a search warrant on Jesk’s car, which was parked at the house where the shooting took place and where police could see a rifle inside.
The handgun believed to have been used to shoot Heather Jesk was found at the scene, authorities said.
Saying she didn’t have the authority, O’Brien declined a request by Clancy to have Jesk placed in the hospital facility at the Cook County Jail and to undergo a psychiatric evaluation because he might have indicated to police he was suicidal.
Clancy said Jesk has been looking for work after returning in January from an 11-month tour of duty in Iraq with the Army, where he was trained as a heavy artillery officer.
Army officials did not reveal the circumstances behind Jesk’s discharge.
He had been “upset from time to time” about his service, Clancy said, but he was “not so sure” post traumatic stress disorder was a factor.
He said the couple may have argued while leaving a relative’s benefit fundraiser at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park late Saturday, but that any angst had fizzled out by the time the couple arrived in Oak Lawn.
They had recently closed on their own condominium and were looking forward to getting out of Jesk’s grandfather’s Oak Lawn home, Clancy said.
“It was a happy day for them,” he said. “I think they were very happy with each other and their relationship.”
Authorities said Jesk had no previous criminal record. He is scheduled to next appear in court March 18.
Read the original article from SouthTown Star.
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