(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A man convicted of a 2019 murder at Harrah’s Casino in Joliet is getting a new trial after an appeals court ruled his constitutional rights were violated.
In 2023, a jury found Robert Watson, 31, guilty of the fatal stabbing of 76-year-old Emanuel Burgarino, a Wisconsin sports bar owner. Watson was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the crime.
Watson, who was found guilty but mentally ill of first degree murder, brings up multiple points in a new appeal. Those include mental health evaluations, allowing the jury to view one of those reports.
And in Watson's view, coercing members of the jury to return a guilty verdict.
Court documents say while certain interviews referenced Watson hallucinating others suggested he was fully aware of the crime that he was committing.
The ruling has found that a Will County Judge should not have allowed prosecutors to use a sanity report against Watson.
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