Police want Joliet man to face trial for 2002 murder
By Brian Stanley bstanley@stmedianetwork.com June 7, 2012 11:14AM
Eric Glover
Updated: July 9, 2012 6:13AM
JOLIET — Police say prosecutors agree a man arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend 10 years ago should stand trial.
An arrest warrant charging Eric Glover, 40, with murder was issued Friday for the June 17, 2002, slaying of Velma Franklin, 30.
“We believe the case could’ve proceeded after our arrest at the time, but the Will County state’s attorney’s office felt otherwise,” Cmdr. Brian Benton said Thursday.
James Glasgow replaced Jeff Tomczak as state’s attorney in 2004 and ordered cold cases be reviewed.
“Their office reviewed this case beginning in 2009 and as it moved forward, they determined there was enough to prosecute,” Benton said.
Around 9 a.m. Franklin’s then 11-year-old daughter found her mother lying in a bed in their Third Avenue home with a gunshot wound to her head.
She told detectives that she last saw her mother alive around 2 a.m., when she was arguing with Glover, her live-in boyfriend.
Two other children, then 4 and 7 years old were also in the house at the time.
Glover arrived home while police were processing the crime scene and claimed he’d spent the night at a friend’s house after being locked out during the argument, Herald-News accounts said.
Police tests for gunshot residue on Glover came back negative and there was no blood on his clothing, his attorney said.
Glover was charged with Franklin’s murder, but those charges were dropped the following February. Glover was convicted of unauthorized possession of a firearm after telling police he owned a handgun that he accidentally discharged in the house several months earlier.
Investigators found a bullet hole in the bedroom wall where the victim’s body was found.
Neither that weapon nor the one used to kill Franklin was recovered before the murder charge was dropped.
Glasgow credited his chief investigator, James Stewart, a retired Joliet police captain, with bringing the cold case to his attention.
“There was no new evidence, but he did outstanding work to make sure everything we already had was in order and we would be ready to go whenever (Glover) is ready,” Glasgow said.
There is no statute of limitations in a murder case, but Glover already had spent enough time in jail following his arrest 10 years ago that he could “demand his right to a speedy trial” within days of the charge being filed again.
Sheriff’s deputies had not served the warrant as of Thursday morning, but were unconcerned whether or not Glover was aware he had been charged again. Glover has been serving a seven-year-sentence for being an armed habitual criminal since April 2011 at Stateville Correctional Center. He is also serving time for aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and driving on a suspended license.
He previously has been convicted of narcotics delivery and weapons possession.
