Authors: Steve Bogira
24
“By all accounts”:
“A judge under siege,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Oct. 27, 1998.
25
“Travesty of justice”:
“Judge owed justice in face of Caruso allies’ attack,” Steve Neal,
Chicago Sun-Times
, Nov. 2, 1998.
26
“He’s fair”:
“Judges up for election walking a delicate tightrope,”
Chicago Tribune
, Oct. 23, 1998.
27
Leaders of bar groups:
Letters supporting Locallo were written by the president of the Cook County Bar Association, the judicial liaison of the Illinois State Bar Association, the chairman of the board of the Chicago Crime Commission, the president of the Chicago chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and the chairman of the Illinois Committee for Judicial Independence of the American Judicature Society.
Chicago Sun-Times
, Nov. 2, 1998, p. 32.
28
“Vindictive”:
“A judge under siege,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Oct. 27, 1998.
29
In other democracies:
Steven P. Croley, “The Majoritarian Difficulty: Elective Judiciaries and the Rule of Law,”
University of Chicago Law Review
(spring 1995), p. 691.
30
In the nineteenth century:
Ibid., p. 716.
31
In fifteen states:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Ibid., p. 726.
32
“Hardly any”:
Chicago Bar Association’s
Judicial Voters Survey
, reported in “Some candidates come out swinging but ballot loses punch,”
Chicago Lawyer
, November 1998.
33
Pushing for merit for decades:
Rubin G. Cohn,
To Judge with Justice: History and Politics of Illinois Judicial Reform
(University of Illinois Press, 1973).
34
Minorities and women get judgeships:
“The Majoritarian Difficulty,” pp. 784–86.
35
Merit selection was one of the chief reforms; “particularly corrosive”:
“Report on Judicial Selection,” Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County, October 1985.
36
Illinois judicial candidates are prohibited:
Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 67, Canon 7 (B) (2), Illinois Supreme Court Rules.
37
Locallo’s committee:
Campaign disclosure records, Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE).
38
In the 1980s:
Marlene Arnold Nicholson and Norman Nicholson, “Funding Judicial Campaigns in Illinois,”
Judicature
(May–June 1994), p. 298.
39
In 1993:
Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 67, Canon 7, A
(1)
(d), Illinois Supreme Court Rules.
40
But judges are still allowed:
Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 67, Canon 7, B
(1)
(a) (iii).
41
In Locallo’s first campaign:
Campaign disclosure records, ISBE.
42
“Play God”:
“Voters decide county judiciary worth keeping,”
Chicago Tribune
, Nov. 5, 1998.
43
Perhaps the $40,000; $20,000:
Campaign disclosure records, ISBE.
44
“Used to”; “to interfere”; “I will not”:
“Judge stands by Clark rulings,”
Chicago Tribune
, Oct. 24, 1998.
45
“Cowards”: WMAQ-TV
, 10
P.M
. news, Nov. 2, 1998.
46
Law professor suggests:
“Clark trial judge defends himself with media blitz,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Oct. 24, 1998.
47
Three checks to PUSH:
Two checks for $500 each were issued to PUSH by Locallo’s committee on Oct. 31, 1998, and another for $200 on Dec. 5, 1998. Campaign disclosure records, ISBE.
48
Thumbs down; in almost every other precinct:
Chicago Board of Elections; Cook County Clerk.
49
“We retained”:
“Voters decide county judiciary worth keeping,”
Chicago Tribune
, Nov. 5, 1998.
50
Two anonymous tipsters:
My account of the police investigation is based on the reports and handwritten notes of the investigating detectives, my interviews with Detective Turner, and transcripts of testimony before the grand jury.
51
He invoked:
Grand jury transcript, March 25, 1997.
52
“He seen Frankie”:
Grand jury transcript, March 27, 1997.
53
Nearly half:
In the years 2000 through 2003, 46 percent of the felony cases were indictments, according to data from presiding judge Paul Biebel.
54
“People’s Panel”:
Richard D. Younger,
The People’s Panel: The Grand Jury in the United States, 1634–1941
(Brown University Press, 1963).
55
As criminal law grew more complex:
Susan W. Brenner, “The Voice of the Community: A Case for Grand Jury Independence,”
Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law
(fall 1995), p. 67.
56
Already in 1870; “ceased to be”; “utterly useless”: Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Illinois
(E. L. Merritt & Bro., 1870), at 1434 and 1438.
57
“Believed”; “gives”:
Kirchwey,
Reports Comprising the Survey of the Cook County Jail
, pp. 45–46.
58
Approved 1,769 indictments:
According to data from presiding judge Biebel.
59
Napkin:
“Grand jury called tool of the prosecutor,”
Arizona Daily Star
, Feb. 10, 1974.
60
Ham sandwich:
The New York judge was Sol Wachtler. “Do we need grand juries?”
New York Times
, Feb. 18, 1985.
61
Legal scholars:
Brenner, “The Voice of the Community.” One state—Hawaii—has an independent grand jury counsel. Ibid., p. 94.
62
Eighteen leading questions:
Grand jury transcript, April 17, 1997.
63
Prosecutors are apt:
Albert Alschuler, “The Prosecutor’s Role in Plea Bargaining,”
University of Chicago Law Review
(1968), p. 60.
64
“Factual basis”:
“The purpose of the rule is to allow the trial court to insure that defendant is not pleading guilty to a crime which his acts and mental state do not support.”
People v. Dilger
, 125 Ill. App. 3d 277 (1984).
65
To be accountable:
720 ILCS 5/5-2 (c).
66
Requires more:
Judges must determine in the factual basis “that the acts alleged to have been committed by the defendant constitute the offense to which defendant is pleading guilty … to prevent the possibility of defendant pleading guilty to a crime beyond the confines of his acts.”
People v. Billops
, 16 Ill. App. 3d 892 (1974).
EPILOGUE: A PROMISING FUTURE
1
“Important prosecution”; “to the full extent”:
Devine press conference, Nov. 20, 1998.
2
DeSantis was bused:
Interview with IDOC spokesperson Sergio Molina.
3
The skeptics:
The circumstances surrounding Cutler’s murder “remain suspicious,” Devine told a reporter in 2003. “Who killed Michael Cutler?”
Chicago Sun-Times
, May 11, 2003. Mandeltort, Berlin, Turner, and Locallo expressed their doubts in interviews with me.
4
Dateline NBC feature:
“Witness for the Prosecution,” Jan. 14, 2000.
5
“One can”:
“It’s about time someone got serious about Cutler probe,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, May 13, 2003.
6
“Classic mob hit”:
“Who killed Michael Cutler?”
7
But a police spokesperson:
Interview with Sergeant Edward Alonzo.
8
Hard to get into; Caruso applied; ten pounds of raw hamburger:
Molina interview.
9
The accompanying story; “historic thing”:
“Clark visits his attacker,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Jan. 18, 2000.
10
Callers:
“We had every caller say that it was phony, a setup, a gimmick. Nobody thought this was a good idea,” said the host of the talk show, Cliff Kelley. “Lenard Clark, attacker reportedly now friends,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Jan. 19, 2000.
11
“Spin doctor”:
“Judge Locallo tells of death threats in Caruso trial,”
Chicago Defender
, Jan. 20, 2000.
12
“Shocking violation”:
“Kup’s Column,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Jan. 21, 2000.
13
Illinois Supreme Court affirmed: People v. Orange
, 195 Ill. 2d 437 (2001).
14
“Grave concerns”; “shameful record”:
Ryan statement to reporters, Jan. 31, 2000.
15
Deflect attention:
“Our family feels that Gov. Ryan is using the issue of the death penalty to divert attention from his own political scandals,” said a letter published in the
Tribune
, signed by Ruth A. Adcock and “the Brewer family,” surviving relatives of the victims of a triple homicide in downstate Illinois. Adcock and the Brewer family wanted the man who was on death row for the triple homicide executed.
Chicago Tribune
, Feb. 9, 2000. Letter-writer Todd Janus likened Ryan’s moratorium to President Bill Clinton’s bombing of a Sudan pharmaceutical
plant, with which, Janus said, Clinton “diverted attention … from his lying under oath and obstruction of justice.”
Chicago Tribune
, Oct. 28, 2002.
16
Ryan pardoned four:
The speech announcing the pardons was given at the DePaul University College of Law.
17
Commuted the sentences:
Ryan announced the commutations at the Northwestern University School of Law.
18
One of 165 nominees:
“Oddsmaker puts Ryan at 12–1 for winning Nobel,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Oct. 9, 2003. The prize went to Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi.
19
“Outrageous and unconscionable”:
Devine added that it was a “shocking disgrace and insult to the victims’ families and our idea of justice that these violent convicted murderers will be free to roam the streets, while every day the victims’ families continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones.” Statement to reporters, Jan. 10, 2003.
20
Now suing:
“Ex-inmate sues, charges torture,”
Chicago Tribune
, Jan. 11, 2004.
21
Orange received $161,000:
Interview with one of his lawyers, Cathryn Crawford.
22
In February he was arrested; arrested again:
“Inmate freed by Ryan racks up 2nd arrest,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, June 18, 2004.
23
“We believe”:
“Probers believe brutality claims,”
Chicago Tribune
, May 21, 2003.
24
Had taken on Young’s and Hill’s cases:
Interview with Zellner.
25
In dropping the case:
“12 years behind bars, now justice at last,”
Chicago Tribune
, Feb. 1, 2005.
26
Cook County keeps sending:
IDOC data.
27
Crackdown on parole violators:
In 2003, 3,623 Cook County parolees were returned to prison for technical violations—such as failing drug tests or missing meetings with parole officers—compared with only 566 in 1996, according to the IDOC.
28
Largest proportion:
In 2002, 42 percent of the prisoners admitted to Illinois penitentiaries had been convicted of drug crimes, 31 percent of property crimes, and 24 percent of violent crimes. “2002 Statistical Presentation,” IDOC.