A Glendale Heights man chose to delay his trial in a case where he’s charged with the 2023 attempted murder of a Joliet police officer who was stabbed after responding to the man’s 911 call.

The jury trial for Francisco Alvarez, 44, was set to begin Tuesday afternoon but Alvarez informed Will County Judge Art Smigielski that he was not ready. A prosecutor told the judge their office was ready.

Since last May, Alvarez has been serving as his own lawyer in the case.

Smigielski asked Alvarez, who requires a Spanish translator, whether he still wishes to proceed to trial, since the court proceedings and the records will be in English. He told Alvarez to also consider prosecutors’ extensive legal experience.

Smigielski granted Alvarez’s request for a court hearing on Nov. 7 to decide whether he wants an attorney or if he’s willing to proceed to trial without one.

Alvarez, who worked as a chef, is charged with the April 29, 2023 attempted murder and aggravated battery of Joliet Police Officer Yuliana Lopez.

Officers responded to the 500 block of Bevan Drive for a 911 call made by Alvarez, who thought “someone was outside” of the house he was staying in and he believed someone was “out to get him,” according to prosecutors.

After Lopez unsuccessfully tried to get Alvarez to leave a closet inside the house, an ambulance was called to the scene for a “possible mental health evaluation,” prosecutors said.

When Lopez and Officer Lesly Sigala opened the closet door, Alvarez “came out with a knife” and stabbed Lopez in the vest and lower left abdomen, prosecutors said. She also suffered another puncture wound to her body.

Alvarez was eventually handcuffed and officers recovered a “bloody knife” measuring 13.5 inches, prosecutors said.

Alvarez claimed to police that he went on a website looking for sex and he received a call from someone who threatened him, prosecutors said.

“Alvarez said he believed the officers who showed up were people from the website dressed up as police officers,” prosecutors said.

Alvarez admitted to wanting to kill one of the police officers, as well as using cocaine, which “increased his fears of the situation,” prosecutors said.

In past court hearings, Alvarez’s previous attorneys said Alvarez has no violent history, he’s married with four children and worked as a chef at downtown Joliet restaurants.

Eric Berg, Alvarez’s attorney, said at an Aug. 5 court hearing that Alvarez was in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis, which he said can cause delirium, court records show.

“[Alvarez] was terrified. He didn’t want to come out of the closet. He advised that people had called and threatened him. He believed that they were coming to get him. And he was clearly having a mental health episode,” Berg said.