Judge allows cameras in DuPage County murder trial
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter March 18, 2013 12:54PM
Updated: March 18, 2013 6:20PM
In a first for the Chicago area, media cameras will be allowed in court when a Willow Springs man accused of arranging the murders of three people stands trial next month in DuPage County.
Overruling objections from prosecutors and defense attorneys, Judge Daniel Guerin on Monday ruled a TV camera and a still camera may record much of Johnny Borizov’s upcoming trial.
The 31-year-old man is charged with arranging the 2010 shooting rampage that killed three relatives of his ex-girlfriend, Angela Kramer, during his bitter child custody dispute with her.
Prosecutors contend she also was a target of admitted gunman Jacob Nodarse but said she hid in a closet at her Darien home to escape the attack that killed her mother, father and younger brother.
Guerin, though, barred the courtroom cameras from recording Kramer’s testimony, as well as any statements offered by two other survivors of the March 2, 2010 rampage.
Nodarse pleaded guilty in 2011 to carrying out the killings and is expected to be a critical witness against Borizov. Guerin agreed to allow the cameras to record and broadcast his testimony.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys had objected to the intensive media coverage, contending it would be an unnecessary distraction for jurors and witnesses.
But Guerin agreed to permit the cameras under a new Illinois Supreme Court policy designed to allow expanded courtroom media access.
Defense attorneys may ask Guerin to reconsider his ruling before Borizov’s scheduled April 16 trial.
“We still think it’s a distraction,” said defense attorney Paul DeLuca.
