Mokena Coma Punch Case Resumes With State Police Scientists' Testimony

The trial of a New Lenox man charged with punching another man into a coma started more than five months ago, and on Wednesday it was back on with testimony from three state police scientists.

The scientists were questioned about blood evidence in the case against 24-year-old Joseph Messina, who allegedly beat a man into a coma outside the Mokena bar 191 South back in July 2009.

Messina's trial began in June but the high-profile murder prosecutions of wife-killer Drew Peterson and Christopher Vaughn—the Oswego man who executed his wife and three children—forced the postponement of his case.

Now, with both Peterson and Vaughn going down guilty, the Messina case is back on.

Messina, who is free on a $250,000 bond, allegedly knocked 29-year-old Eric Bartels of Joliet to the ground with a single punch. After Bartels fell, a witness testified previously, Messina straddled him, ."

The police arrived quickly and found Messina hiding between the seats of a van, witnesses said.

But one of the attorneys representing Messina said Messina didn't throw the punch that broke Bartels' skull and damaged his brain. In fact, said the attorney, Dave Carlson, Messina didn't punch anyone at all. Carlson said it was actually one of Messina's close friends who struck Bartels.

On Tuesday, forensic scientist David Turngren of the Illinois State Police Crime Lab said he performed DNA testing on clothing worn by Messina and Bartels. Turngren testified to finding a mixture of DNA from two people on a shirt Messina was wearing the night Bartels was beaten. The mixture contained DNA from Bartels and from a second person. He said he could not rule out Messina as that second person.

But when questioned by defense attorney Ken Zelazo, Turngren conceded that he could not say with "scientific certainty" the DNA was from Messina's body.

"So it could have come from someone else?" Zelazo asked. Turngren told him, "Yes, it's possible."

Turngren also said he found no DNA from either man on another shirt Messina had on or the blue jeans he was wearing.

After Turngren testified, Carlson told Judge Sarah Jones he plans to call three Mokena police officers and an investigator from the state's attorney's office to the witness stand Thursday morning. Carlson said he has another four civilian witnesses in store for Thursday afternoon.