A longtime Mount Prospect police officer who had been charged with felony offenses stemming from a disturbance at his home was swiftly found not guilty by a McHenry County jury Thursday.
Anthony Lietzow, 45, was soft-spoken and emotional when he left the courtroom after the verdict, which jurors reached in less than an hour. He thanked family and friends who supported him.
In closing arguments earlier Thursday, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs had described a much different man. Combs said Lietzow was drunk, threatening and angry when he shoved one of three Huntley police officers who had arrived at his home last year at the behest of a female family member after the two quarreled and Lietzow locked her out of the house.
The woman had run to a neighbor’s house seeking help, and police said she told them that Lietzow had tried to choke her, but the woman denied having made the statement when she took the witness stand this week. A domestic battery charge against Lietzow had already been deemed unfounded by the judge in the case, and the jury acquitted Lietzow of resisting arrest and aggravated battery of a peace officer.
Phil Prossnitz, Lietzow’s attorney, refuted prosecutors’ claims and said the responding officers had escalated the situation. Prossnitz said his client acted as a homeowner protecting “his castle” when the officers “barged” into his home through a mudroom in a “needlessly provocative” manner.
Prossnitz said Lietzow, who has been a police officer for more than 20 years, heard a commotion at the door leading into his home, so he attempted to hold the door shut but was “blown back with a tsunami of force.”
He said Lietzow was “winding down after a very long evening” that involved a tense argument with the female relative when three officers “stacked and blast(ed) into his house with no warning.”
The defense attorney maintained that Lietzow did not realize they were police officers and when he did, he “instantaneously” complied.
“This case has gone too far,” Prossnitz told jurors.
Combs cast the events in a different light, saying Lietzow, a police officer himself, knew these were officers entering his home and he was in a “drunken stupor” when he escalated the situation himself. More than anyone, Lietzow should have known that “you don’t put your hands on police and you don’t resist arrest,” Combs said during closing arguments.
He said the officers were “entirely reasonable” in their actions, ringing the bell, having a dispatcher try to reach Lietzow by phone and entering only after he ignored their attempts, with the assistance of the woman.
“Police encountered a drunk, angry man who put hands on them,” Combs said.
Lietzow previously pleaded guilty to resisting arrest but was allowed to withdraw the plea because he said he didn’t know it would cost him his job. By going to trial, he risked a felony conviction and possible prison time.
The gamble paid off, although it’s not certain to mean he will be reinstated as a police officer. A Mount Prospect police official said it remains unclear if the department will still pursue Lietzow’s dismissal. He has been on unpaid leave from the department while the criminal case proceeded. He has been decertified by the state and his firearm owner’s identification card has been suspended.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
