Joliet Murder Defendant Freed By Judge After SAFE-T-Act Hearing Reveals His Defense Strategy For July's Trial

JOLIET, IL — It's been 18 months since Will County's longest serving judge, Amy Bertani-Tomczak, turned down efforts by the Will County State's Attorney's Office to keep Joliet first-degree murder defendant Kendrick Pullen in the Will County jail under the SAFE-T-Act.

Pullen's first-degree murder charges arose from a Joliet house shooting that ended the life of 42-year-old Everett "TY" Cole Jr. Joliet police arrested Pullen, who turns 23 years old this August, back on Oct. 11, 2024.

After regaining his freedom from Judge Bertani, Joliet Patch reported last summer that Pullen is now working at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Aurora.

This week, Pullen and his private defense counsel, Jerry King of downtown Joliet's King & Bondi, filed an amended disclosure to the prosecution.

According to the filing, "the defendant intends to rely at trial on the following defenses: self-defense, defense of others, presumption of innocence and necessity."

Cole's homicide happened inside a house on Joliet's east side the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.

As Cole's 65-year-old father waited in their parked vehicle just a couple of houses down the street, Everett Cole Jr. suffered multiple gunshot wounds before collapsing and dying in the front entrance of 830 Wenberg St.

According to the prosecution's filing, Everett Cole Jr. had one gunshot to his chest and another to his stomach.

One of the several eyewitnesses to the shooting later told Joliet police that "he was at the residence trying to get high when Everett came in, kicked the female's date out, and came upstairs. Everett came into the kitchen and told everyone else they had to get out. (Pullen) yelled, 'Move, move,' and shot him four or five times," according to prosecutors.

About five minutes prior to his murder, Everett Cole Jr. told his father he was "gonna have to knock this (woman) out," prosecutors said. Everett Cole Sr. believed his son was referring to a woman who owed him money, according to the petition to deny pretrial release for Pullen.

"Everett Jr. was gone for approximately three minutes when Everett Sr. heard several gunshots," prosecutors noted.

Prosecutor Tricia McKenna wrote in her filing that "TY reached towards his right hip, Pullen pushed TY and BJ out of the way and grabbed a gun near the chimney area and shot TY three to four times. Pullen said the gun he used was not his and it was more of a house gun to keep the house safe."

Last August, Joliet Patch revealed that Judge Bertani-Tomczak signed an order declaring that Pullen was now able to travel to and from the Amazon Distribution Center in Aurora at 2865 Duke Parkway, only for employment purposes.

Pullen's work shift would be Saturday through Wednesday 1:20 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. and "should defendant's employment end, defendant is ordered to notify this court and pretrial services immediately," the judge stipulated in her order.

As for the status of Pullen's Joliet murder case, his next pretrial hearing is on May 13 regarding the status of his trial call. His murder case is set for a July 20 jury trial in Courtroom 405.