Prosecutors ‘cherry-picking’ judges for sex offense cases.
The prosecutor’s office in Cook County, Illinois has been consistently asking that Judge James Linn be removed from hearing cases involving sexual crimes after he gave what prosecutors considered to be too lenient a sentence (18 years) back in 2013. According to this article, Linn hasn’t presided over a sex case since November 2013, after having overseen more bench trials involving sex crimes than any other Cook County judge the previous 13 years.
The facts came out during a broader investigation into the prosecutor’s office using a tactic called a motion for substitution of judge (SOJ) where, for no articulated reason, the prosecutor’s office can simply request a different judge if they (for any reason) don’t want the one assigned to the case. In Judge Linn’s case, “In less than two years following his controversial handling of Fultz’s case, Linn was bounced from at least 25 sex cases using SOJs, about four times more than the next closest judge”. even more curious, court officials that “randomly” assign judges to cases, aware of the state’s attorney’s campaign, largely stopped assigning sex cases to Linn.“We’ve been SOJing (Linn) on sex cases so long that the last two presiding judges do not even send them to him,” wrote Joseph Magats, then-chief of the state’s attorney’s criminal prosecutions bureau.
The investigation was not limited to Linn and sex offense cases, The investigation also found that prosecutors would SOJ Judge Ann Finley Collins on drunken-driving cases, And one judge, Leo Holt complained that the state’s attorney’s office was removing serious felony cases from his call (he was Black and a former civil rights attorney who had defended, among others, Martin Luther King, Jr.). Another black judge, James L. Rhodes, who handled juvenile cases felt the same. He was quoted in the article as saying, “Their idea with what to do with juveniles is just to lock everybody up, Since I didn’t agree with that…they didn’t want to send cases to me.
It sure sounds to us like a method prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois use to cherry pick judges they think will give them the best chance of winning.
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I was incarcerated in Michigan, and I had the opportunity to help several inmates in their appeals while I was locked up. I got to read a lot of transcripts. It is shocking how the judges here simply ignore the Rules of Court while steamrolling over defendants. Most of those men were represented by public defenders who do little to help other than simply being present in the courtroom. When these judges run for the office bragging about being “tough on crime,” they have already violated the judicial oath to be impartial and fair to ALL of the parties.
I went through this with my case. I had a hanging judge and she did hang me. I went back on two appeals and both times she sent my lawyer away in tears.
When they rotated out the judges, the new judge, Justice Alan Lawson had great compassion and agreed that I was sentenced with great malice and personal feelings the judge should not have bestowed against me.
I was immediately removed from probation, striking down the remaining 6 years I had left. Some lawyers call this “Judge shopping”.
By the way, juries are picked that way as well. Both sides get to pick or dismiss a juror and that is why it can take so long to seat a jury.
Yet another abuse of power from one of the most corrupt jurisdictions in the country.
FAC thank You for the article.
This is something that those of us who have been through it are full aware of . But obviously the public is ignorant of.
Had the man received the death sentence ,to the victims that still would not have been enough. 18 yrs in prison is not exactly a slap on the wrist. The way it stands we may as well get rid of all judges since they are not allowed to do their intended jobs anyway. Just let the cops be the judges , like they were for George Floyd and the lady that was killed when the cops busted here door open and shot her just to find out they had the wrong house. Is this what people want? When you eliminate judges from the process that’s what you get. Yet this is what is happening.
Let’s face it, Cook County, IL, is not known for justice and has been a haven for criminality among LE for many years. We should expect nothing more than what we are seeing.
Once they start using SOJ motions I’m sure it’s hard to stop. Remove the positive reinforcement of this action by denying the motion.