EDWARDSVILLE - Circuit Judge Kyle Napp set a hearing for Nov. 8 on State's Attorney Tom Haine's motion to dismiss convicted killer Timothy Banowetz's bid to withdraw his guilty plea for the murder of Edwardsville asbestos attorney Randy Gori in 2020.
Napp said during a status conference on Aug. 30 that if she grants Haine's motion to dismiss Banowetz's request for a trial, Banowetz can appeal.
"If I deny it, I can hear his motion," she added.
Banowetz appeared for the status conference in Napp's court with his counsel, special defender Calvin B. Fuller of Granite City.
Napp set the motion hearing for 9 a.m. until noon, but she said she doubted it would take that long.
She also denied requests by four news organizations for video coverage of proceedings on Banowetz's motion.
"There's no reason to have cameras in the courtroom," she said.
Napp said she expects more requests and asked both sides to review the order on media access to the trial she would have held if Banowetz hadn't pleaded guilty in 2021.
As she closed the hearing, Napp told Fuller to take all the time he needed with Banowetz as he had not yet had a chance to meet with his client.
She asked the deputy if Fuller could do that, and the deputy said, "Yes."
Banowetz is currently an inmate at the Pontiac Correctional Center after pleading guilty on Oct. 5, 2021, to the first degree murder of Randy Gori and two armed robbery charges of minors Grace and Ethan Gori.
He was sentenced on Dec. 10, 2021, to 70 years in prison.
On Dec. 5, 2022, Banowetz asked for his guilty plea to be withdrawn and to be brought back to Madison County to stand trial.
“The plea was not made voluntarily and was made because of both coercion and inadequate representation,” Banowetz wrote in his motion. “I was told by my lawyer that I should take the deal because it was what the Gori family wanted.”
On March 6, Loughrey filed a motion to dismiss Banowetz’s request.
He argues that Banowetz made a “knowing, voluntary waiver of his rights and entered into a negotiated ‘open’ guilty plea.”
Loughrey wrote that Banowetz had 30 days from the date of his sentencing to file a motion to withdraw his plea “and was properly admonished of such in open court by Napp.”
Just before the sentencing hearing began in December 2021, Banowetz chose to proceed pro se and attempted to withdraw his guilty plea at that time.
Napp told him they were not there to withdraw a plea. She said he could file a post-conviction motion to withdraw his plea after the sentencing.
“Mr. Banowetz, we’re going to a sentencing hearing today because I don’t believe that you are going to cooperate with anything,” Napp said. “You’re going to throw up roadblocks every chance you get to stop this, just like you did the trial. So we’re going to proceed to a sentencing hearing today. And I will give you your appeal rights, and you can appeal. But you’re not going to keep throwing up roadblocks. You have rights and I will ensure that they are all followed to a T, but I’m not going to let you play games anymore.”
Gori was murdered at his home in Edwardsville on Jan. 4, 2020. He was found in a basement bedroom with 40 stab wounds to the back and an incised wound to the neck.
Gori’s children were found in the laundry room with their hands bound behind their backs with zip ties.
Banowetz approached officers searching the area after the murder and identified himself. He allegedly told officers that he was looking for his truck after attending a bonfire in the area. He was taken in for questioning, and blood on his shirt allegedly matched Gori’s DNA.