Ex-Joliet police officer found guilty of domestic battery, not guilty of resisting officers

A jury found a former Joliet police officer guilty of battering his ex-wife and not guilty of resisting New Lenox police officers during his arrest in 2019, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

A jury delivered its verdict Friday in the case against William Busse, 39, who left the Joliet Police Department in 2021 after signing a settlement agreement to end his employment as a police officer. Retired Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner had recommended Busse to be fired in 2020, but Busse remained on the force until he left in 2021.

Busse was found guilty of the four misdemeanor counts of domestic battery of his ex-wife on Dec. 29, 2019, in New Lenox, Will County State’s Attorney Carole Cheney said.

The first count of the criminal complaint was amended from bodily harm to contact of an insulting and provoking nature, Cheney said.

Busse was found not guilty of pulling away from New Lenox police officers while he was being placed in a squad vehicle, Cheney said.

Busse is scheduled for sentencing April 5, Cheney said.

On that day, Busse is set for a bench trial on a misdemeanor charge of violation of bail. That charge alleged that Busse violated the conditions of his bond in another misdemeanor domestic battery case by having contact with his ex-wife.

Busse’s ex-wife testified at the trial and complied with a material witness bond that had been placed on her, Cheney said.

Judge Brian Barrett placed the material witness bond on Busse’s ex-wife after she continued to fail to appear in court and expressed her unwillingness to participate in the case.

Busse’s case is one of at least four that have been filed against Joliet police officers in the past six years, and the only one among them that led to a conviction.

Joliet police officer Nicholas Crowley initially was charged with domestic battery in 2017, but a grand jury did not return that charge in an indictment. Crowley later was acquitted of reckless discharge of a firearm in the same case.

In 2019, retired Judge Ed Burmila dismissed a domestic battery case against Joliet police Detective David Jackson after the alleged victim refused to come to court.

A domestic battery case against Joliet police officer Andrew McCue also was dismissed after the alleged victim failed to appear in court.

The latter two cases were prosecuted by Special Prosecutor Bill Elward.