JOLIET, IL — This month marks eight years of being in custody for Amari Morgan, the 25-year-old Joliet Township resident who whacked his 62-year-old neighbor Bob Bielec across the head with a baseball bat, over and over until he died, according to 2022 trial testimony.
Amari Morgan’s accomplice, his older brother Blaique Morgan, is now serving his first-degree murder sentence at the Illinois Department of Corrections. Amari Morgan has remained in Will County’s Jail since turning 18 years old, and being moved to the adult jail on March 11, 2016.
Last June, Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius sentenced Blaique Morgan to 27 years in prison, giving him credit for time already served — 2,724 days. The remaining portion of Morgan’s sentence will be served at 100 percent, Will County prosecutors noted.
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At 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Amari Morgan will return to Courtroom 404 of Judge Cornelius, and his case is listed on the court schedule as a guilty plea.
Amari Morgan has been represented by private counsel, the downtown Joliet law offices of Jeff Tomczak of Tomczak Law Group.
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Last June, at Blaique Morgan’s sentencing, Judge Cornelius told him, “vigilante justice is not acceptable in a lawful, law-abiding society. The court is also mindful that it is necessary to deter others from this kind of conduct in the future.”
Blaique Morgan was responsible for concealing and destroying evidence after the murder happened, the judge pointed out. The bloody baseball bat was disposed of and never found by Will County Sheriff’s detectives.
The Morgan brothers ambushed Bielec and bashed in his skull, causing him to die from head trauma moments after Bielec pulled into his driveway, under the dark of night, around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2016. “As the court said, there are no winners, no losers,” Cornelius remarked.
During closing arguments at Blaique Morgan’s bench trial, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Fitzgerald reminded Judge Cornelius there were several sticky notes — identical to ones from Blaique Morgan’s own bedroom — scattered all over the yard declaring, “Reap What You Sow.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” Blaique Morgan told Will County Sheriff’s detectives.
The Preston Heights resident said the “Reap What You Sow” Post-It notes were scattered outside before their driveway confrontation with Bielec in the 1700 block of Houston Avenue.
He suggested his then-17-year-old brother Amari could have made them.
“My brother, he’s not been a subliminal person,” Blaique told the detectives.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Victim’s Skull Crushed By Baseball Bat: Joliet Murder Trial Starts
Murder Victim’s Blood Found On Blaique Morgan’s Black Nikes: Witness
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