Stoker's bond upped to $750K
<p dir="ltr"><span>It will be a little harder for Jason Michael Stoker to leave Randolph County Jail as his case continues in Randolph County court.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>During a continued motion hearing on Monday, Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Brown increased Stoker's bond to $750,000, with a Dec. 5 preliminary hearing upcoming in the case the surrounds the death of Chester police officer and volunteer firefighter James Brockmeyer.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The hearing - which was to argue the State's motion to increase bond - was continued from Nov. 14 as Stoker, 34, of Chester, did not have an attorney to represent him.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Brown assigned public defender James Kelley for Stoker, who argued Monday that the actions of his client did not cause Brockmeyer's death.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"The facts show another police officer driving another police car caused the accident," Kelley said.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Kelley stated that Stoker did not have any felony convictions on his record prior to the accident. Court records show Stoker does have more than a dozen past convictions for misdemeanors and traffic offenses.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"There's not going to be any decision that's easy in this case, including this one," Kelley told Brown, referring to the motion to increase Stoker's bond.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker, who asked for a $1 million bond for Stoker, highlighted Stoker's alleged refusal to turn himself in when contacted by phone by an investigator with the Illinois State Police on Oct. 29, the day after the car accident in which Brockmeyer was fatally injured.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Walker said Stoker was advised of the warrant for his arrest and given the option turn himself in in a different county if he was "too scared" to return to Randolph County.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"I did tell Judge Gross that additional charges were likely," Walker said, referring to Associate Circuit Court Judge Gene Gross, who set the original bond.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Walker noted that Stoker was still in the state at that time, as a cell phone ping showed him to be near or south of Red Bud. Stoker later fled to Missouri and was captured in St. Louis on Nov. 1 by U.S. Marshals deputies.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Stoker is charged with two counts of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer (both Class 4 felonies) and one count each of reckless homicide (Class 2 felony) and first-degree murder (Class X felony).</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>He was originally given a bond of $250,000 on one count of aggravated fleeing or eluding - filed on Oct. 31 - but Walker unleashed the new charges, as well as the motion to increase bail, on Nov. 10 after Stoker was extradited back to Randolph County.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"I would certainly think there's less likely the defendant will get probation, even on the lesser charges," Walker said.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Kelley argued that Stoker was unlikely to make the original bond and that the added charges shouldn't result in an increased bond amount.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"The facts of this situation are no different than the night (the original bond) was set," he said.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Stoker, now sporting a full beard, spent much of the hour-long wait before the hearing appearing to stare back at members of the Brockmeyer family (who were seated in the gallery) from his seat next to his attorney.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Brockmeyers, who sat mostly silent during the wait, declined to comment after the hearing.</span>