Trial for former Quincy nightclub owner facing assault charges now on February docket

QUINCY — Judge Amy Lannerd put the trial for a former Quincy nightclub owner accused of assaulting a Quincy University student on the docket in February 2023. 

Steven W. Homan, 48, made an appearance before Lannerd in Adams County Circuit Court on Tuesday with Ben Song, an associate with the St. Louis firm of Rosenblum, Schwartz & Fry. Song appeared on behalf of Scott Rosenblum, who has represented rapper Nelly and former St. Louis Rams football stars Marshall Faulk and Leonard Little. 

Lannerd set the trial to begin on Feb. 6, but Song said Rosenbloom wouldn’t be available until Feb. 13. Judge Scott Larson is scheduled to hear the case.

Lannerd asked assistant state’s attorney Josh Jones for an update on the case during Tuesday’s hearing. He said all discovery was complete but attempts to negotiate a plea had been unsuccessful.

A status hearing was set for Nov. 22, with a pre-trial hearing set for Jan. 27.

The trial was set to begin July 11, but Michael Mettes, another associate of Rosenblum’s, filed a motion to ask for a continuance in the case. Jones said during a July 1 status hearing that he recently learned Det. Erik Cowick with the Quincy Police Department could not testify at a July trial.

Homan was charged April 14, 2021, after a Quincy Police Department investigation of an April 4 incident at the Barn, 711 S. Front. Jazzpher Evans, a former Quincy University student from Shorewood, Ill., alleges she was attacked by Homan.

A charging document filed in Adams County Circuit Court alleges Homan “knowingly made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature” with Evans, and that Homan placed his arm around Evans’ neck and “drug her for 20 seconds.”

Homan turned himself into police on April 15, and he was indicted by an Adams County grand jury on April 29, 2021. His bail was set at $25,000. He was released after posting $2,500 bond. 

Evans has since left Quincy University and is on the women’s basketball team at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.