Teen Burglary Defendants Due in Court Tuesday

Two Deerfield teenagers charged with invading a Highland Park home in August return to Lake County Court Tuesday in what could be their last appearance before Judge Daniel Shanes schedules a trial.

Joshua Norris and Joseph Mahoney, both 18, were arrested in August for invading a Highland Park home with a firearm the day after Deerfield Police said they committed a stealth burglary to take the gun.

Will the case be resolved today? There have been hints at a number of court hearings that remains a possibility.

When Norris and Mahoney appeared in Lake County Court June 11, Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Steve Sheller told Shanes all parties were still talking about the case. “There are still some issues we need to iron out,” Sheller said at the time.

Neither Sheller nor lawyers for Mahoney and Norris would comment on the possibility of a plea bargain. In February, Mahoney attorney Chris Cronson told Shanes he felt the case could be resolved.

“We’ve been in discussions and are close to a resolution,” Cronson said in February. Sheller agreed with the assessment then.

During that February hearing, Shanes hinted at the possibility of probation in the case. “Sometimes in cases like this I consider probation and in other cases the person is going to go to prison,” he said then.

Mahoney and Norris were indicted for 10 separate offenses each, which total more than 100 years of possible jail time, according to Judge Patricia Fix, who was chief of the felony trial division in the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office when the indictment was handed up in September. They are both accused of the same offenses.

The indictment includes home invasion with a weapon, residential burglary, conspiracy to commit a possible burglary, unlawful use of a stolen firearm, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime, possession of a stolen firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

The most serious accusations, according to Fix, are the two counts of home invasion of a home in the 3000 block of Parkside in Highland Park, a Class X felony carrying a six- to 30-year prison sentence.

For more news and updates, "like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.