Frankfort
Police Officer Donald Walsh was arrested on new charges during a court
appearance for his felony domestic battery case Wednesday.
Posted
by Joseph Hosey
In
a shocking twist, a Frankfort cop charged with beating his girlfriend in her
Mokena bedroom was cuffed and taken to jail during a court appearance
Wednesday.
Donald
Walsh, 30 and already facing charges domestic battery and aggravated domestic
battery, caught new felony cases for intimidation and telephone harassment.
"Mr.
Walsh, put your hands behind your back," Will County Judge Edward Burmila
commanded as Walsh stood before the bench. "The court's been informed
there's a warrant for your arrest."
A
deputy then put Walsh in handcuffs and sat him in the jury box to wait for his
trip to jail.
The
new charges stem from a June 12, 2012, telephone call Walsh's then-girlfriend,
Jillian Fredericks, secretly recorded. Walsh allegedly threatened Fredericks
during the call. A month and a half later, Walsh was arrested for allegedly
beating Fredericks.
After
Walsh's arrest, Fredericks turned the recording over to a Frankfort police
officer who had been assigned to an internal investigation for a pending
disciplinary proceeding. The officer shared the recording with her superiors,
who let an attorney representing the village in on its existence but decided
against using it at the disciplinary hearing. Frankfort also decided against
sharing the recording with the Mokena police, the department investigating
Walsh for the criminal case.
Special
prosecutor Dave Neal only learned of the recording when Fredericks' sister,
Michelle Wawerski, told him about it after the trial's first day Nov. 20.
Wawerski said she let Neal know because she was bothered by the way defense
attorney Steven Haney was portraying Walsh during the trial and she wanted
people to hear what Walsh is "really like."
Judge
Burmila ruled that the Frankfort police committed a "discovery violation
and it was purposeful." He forbade the use of the recording unless Walsh
takes the stand. He said Neal could then use the recording to impeach Walsh's
testimony.
Burmila
also said he would declare a mistrial and recuse himself from the case if that
was what Walsh wished. Haney, said it was unlikely he would ask for a mistrial.
Walsh
was being held in lieu of $50,000 bond. He was free on a $75,000 bond at the
time of his arrest.