May 04--An Aurora man is scheduled to stand trial in September on charges that he strangled his girlfriend -- a nurse -- with her scarf and then used her own stethoscope to ensure she had died.
In a Wednesday hearing in DuPage County Court, Judge George Bakalis set a Sept. 20 date to begin the first-degree murder trial of Jose M. Loera, 37, of Aurora.
Loera has been held in lieu of $5 million bail since he allegedly confessed to police that he killed Heather Jacobi on the evening of March 28, 2014, in Jacobi's Aurora home in the 100 block of Gregory Street. Authorities say Loera, whom Jacobi had dated periodically over two years, strangled her with a scarf in a fit of jealousy.
Jacobi, a 32-year-old mother of three, worked as a registered nurse at the DuPage County Jail and had previously taken out an order of protection against Loera.
Before the murder trial begins, opposing attorneys have asked the court to rule on two major motions. Loera's public defenders want the court to bar statements he made to police while hospitalized the day after Jacobi's death.
Authorities allege that Loera tried to kill himself with an overdose of medication after killing Jacobi. Loera's attorneys say that overdose rendered Loera incapable of knowingly waiving his Miranda rights before being questioned by police, and so those statements should be barred at trial. The hearing on that motion is set for July 12.
Meanwhile, DuPage prosecutors will argue on Aug. 8 that evidence of previous domestic abuse involving Loera should be admitted as trial evidence.
Among those incidents was a 2014 guilty plea Loera made to a domestic incident in which he reportedly grabbed Jacobi by the hair. Prosecutors say there are other police reports involving alleged abuse by Loera, but Jacobi declined to press charges.
In the motion, prosecutors say they have statements from three other women, include Loera's ex-wife and a woman who is the mother of their two children, saying Loera abused or battered them. All said Loera exhibited jealous behavior.
Authorities say that Loera was on probation for domestic battery against Jacobi and had just been granted court approval to have contact with her that day before she was killed. On the night she died, Jacobi had agreed to get together with Loera, but then changed her mind, according to prosecutors.
Undeterred, authorities allege, Loera came to Jacobi's home and became enraged when she began receiving texts from another man. They struggled, and after Loera strangled Jacobi, he checked for signs of life with her stethoscope before returning to his residence and taking an overdose of prescription pills, according to prosecutors.
Aurora police, who were performing a well-being check, found Loera and had him transported to a hospital. Police found Jacobi's body about six hours later.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
