A Wonder Lake man who went to prison for fatally shooting his wife – and who currently is serving jail time on a domestic violence conviction – was denied a request to expunge a 2024 domestic abuse case for which he was found not guilty.

In December Charles Gozzola, 51, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery causing bodily harm. He was sentenced to 153 days in McHenry County jail and two years probation.

McHenry County court records show that on Wednesday, Gozzola attempted to have a 2024 case of domestic battery expunged. A judge found Gozzola not guilty in that case.

Expungement erases or removes records from public view, as if the arrest or charge never happened, according to Illinois Legal Aid.org.

Judge Tiffany Davis wrote in an order denying the expungement request that the “public’s interest in retaining your criminal records is greater than your interest in expunging your records.”

In the 2024 case, Gozzola was found not guilty of domestic battery following a bench trial before Judge Mark Gerhardt. Witnesses had testified to seeing Gozzola hit the woman in the head with a water bottle, then push, grab and shove the woman into his vehicle outside a fitness center in Crystal Lake.

Police tracked Gozzola to his home and then forced their way in and arrested him, according to authorities.

Prosecutors had sought to play recordings of phone calls Gozzola they said made from the county jail after his arrest threatening the woman to say and do as his attorney instructed her. But Gerhardt denied the state’s request to play the recordings at Gozzola’s trial.

In rendering his verdict, Gerhardt said he was not convinced by the state’s witnesses and he did not consider Gozzola’s long-ago conviction of murder in the death of his wife.

In 2002, Gozzola pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of his then wife Beth Gozzola in their Northbrook-area home. According to Cook County records, Gozzola shot her in the back of the head. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison but released early, according to prosecutors and official records.

On Wednesday, Gozzola also attempted to expunge records related to a 2020 criminal misdemeanor charge of a violation of an order of protection. The order of protection was filed in Cook County by a different woman.

Davis also denied expunging two additional cases involving charges of driving on a suspended driver’s license in 2023 and failure to obey a stop sign in 2024. He was found not guilty in each case. The judge noted these “records are not legally eligible to be expunged.”

Gozzola’s projected release date from jail is May 12. He will be on reporting probation until Dec. 7, 2027, court records show.

Gozzola’s attorney could not be reached for comment.