The Tinley Park man charged with beating his wife to death with a weightlifting bar had his bond set at $5 million.
And if Bahaa Sam, 47, comes up with $500,000 cash he needs to secure his release, he must turn in both his American and Egyptian passports, Will County Judge Roger Rickmon ordered at Sam's bond hearing Thursday.
Sam allegedly bludgeoned his wife with a weightlifting bar after they argued over his lack of employment. Sam's wife, 38-year-old Nermeen Gamal Sam, had bitten her husband's finger when he blocked her from leaving the house, police said.
Sam then murdered his wife in front of their 4-year-old son, police and prosecutors said.
But that wasn't the only thing going on at the Joliet courthouse, although it may have been the saddest. There was also:
- Former Drew Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky filing a bizarre, rambling motion to withdraw from the wrongful death case filed against Peterson in 2009. Brodsky spent little of his six-page motion discussing his withdrawal from the case, with much of the filing devoted to attacking former co-counsel Steve Greenberg, whom he claims "suffers from a severe mental illness." A week earlier, Greenberg filed court papers blaming Brodsky for blowing Peterson's murder case. Greenberg's memorandum also makes Brodsky out to be a delusional, petty, fame-hungry liar.
- A Lockport teen getting charged with reckless homicide in connection with a fatal crash in Homer Township. Daniel Janik, 17, already faced a wrongful death lawsuit in connection with the Sept. 25 wreck that claimed the life of a Mokena teen.
- The state's attorney's office securing a warrant for the arrest of former Lincoln-Way Central teacher Ryan Gardner. Gardner had allegedly made a phone call to school district Deputy Superintendent Thomas Eddy and later told people he planned to shoot and kill district officials.
- Former Plainfield North High School gym teacher Ashley Blumenshine making her final pretrial appearance on charges she had sex with a 16-year-old student in a Kohl's parking lot.
- The survivor of a Romeoville plane crash suing the estate of the Darien pilot who lost his life when the aircraft went down.
- The lawyer for a 32-year-old woman tied to a teenage sex romp at the Joliet home she shares with her 76-year-old boyfriend continuing his fight to get evidence he claims prosecutors are supposed to turn over.