The trial of Daniel Olaska that began on Monday March 2, has continued on into its second week.
The trial was set to last about a week, but prosecutors, the jury, and all other members of the trial returned Monday, March 9 for the continuation of the trial.
According to the Naperville Sun, the trial has now been expected to go until about midweek when it turns over to the jury to make their decision.
Since the beginning of the trial, a variety of witnesses and evidence has been presented to the judge and the jury.
The first witness to the stand was a woman name Sarah Schween. According to ABC 7 News prosecutors testified that Olaska fatally stabbed NCC alumnus Shaun Wild, and two others because he was upset after being turned down by a girl.
Schween was the girl who turned him down at Frankie’s Blue Room that night back in February 2012. Schween stated she remembered dancing with Olaska, but later telling him that she was not interested in him. She also identified the shirt that Olaska was wearing that night, which was covered in blood of the victims.
ABC 7 News stated that Olaska’s attorneys’ did not deny that he stabbed the men, but they claimed that Olaska stabbed Wild and William Hayes, who was an NCC senior in 2012, because Wild and Hayes threatened Olaska.
Basically the defense argued that Olaska was threatened by Hayes, who according to the Naperville Sun, was “laying down the law” after Olaska got into an argument with Schween. Prosecutors argued differently as they stated that Olaska just acted out in pure frustration after the rejection.
Several more witnesses who were brought to the stand included three bar patrons who all had interactions with Olaska before the stabbing, a Romeoville resident, John Reynolds, who was dancing with Schween before Olaska intruded and later threatened Reynolds with the knife, and Hayes himself.
According to the Naperville Sun, Hayes answered numerous times that he did not recall nor remember the key details of the incident. Even though Hayes cannot recall what he stated to Olaska before the stabbing, he did state that he never threatened Olaska that night.
One of the other witnesses brought to the stand was forensic pathologist Mitra Kalelkar. Kalelkar was brought to the stands to explain the wounds to the court that Wild received from Olaska. According to the Daily Herald, Kallekar stated on the witness stand that Wild received a 1.1 in. horizontal wound that punctured his lower heart and pierced his lung, which caused enough damage to be fatal.
The court has also had video evidence from security cameras in Frankie’s Blue Room that recorded the 2012 incident. According to the Naperville Sun, the videos have been playing a huge role during the course of the trial. However the videos have been tricky tools for they are open to interpretation as both the prosecutors and defense try to use the videos to argue their points. The prosecutors’ claim Olaska just acted out of pure rage while defense try to show Olaska acted out in self-defense.
