Madison County Circuit Judge Kyle Napp continued the trial date to Jan. 11 in the murder case of asbestos attorney Randy Gori.
Defendant Timothy Banowetz’s jury trial had been set for Oct. 5 after it was previously continued from June.
Banowetz is accused of murdering Gori in his Edwardsville home on Jan. 4.
In a Sept. 10 order, Napp directed the Illinois State Police Forensic Lab to provide Banowetz and the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office with with all documents, records, reports, notes, diagrams, photographs, summaries of findings, telephone logs, printouts from various scientific instruments, internal memoranda and curriculum vitae for any forensic scientist who conducted examinations and tests conducted while investigating the case.
Gori was found dead in his rural Edwardsville home late in the evening on Jan. 4, having been stabbed and cut. Banowetz, 28, is accused of ordering Gori and two minors to the ground and binding their hands. During the event, the suspect allegedly took cell phones from the minors and money from Gori.
During a press conference following the murder, David Vucich, who is a captain with the Madison County Sheriff’s Department and commander of the Major Case Squad activated in this case, said Banowetz had been in the home for an “extended” period of time and was not injured.
Vucich said Banowetz was found by Major Case Squad officers in a wooded area about 1,200 feet from the home.
The 2020 Rolls Royce SUV Cullinan that Banowetz allegedly stole after the crime was found on an unpaved roadway off Zika Lane.
Banowetz is being charged with three alternative counts of first degree murder, three counts of armed robbery, and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint. He is also being charged with an offense related to a motor vehicle.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In two March orders, Napp wrote that both the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Madison County Public Defender’s Office indicated that they were finished with forensic testing of Gori’s Rolls Royce and a 2005 black F150 vehicle with Missouri registration belonging to Banowetz.
Napp directed for the Rolls Royce to be released to widow Beth Gori. She directed for the F150 to be released to the “defendant or his designee.”