A DuPage County Board that sometimes seems to be at war with itself is heading toward a possible confrontation with the judge assigned to preside over the controversial trial of seven current or former law enforcement officials charged with criminal misconduct.
At a contentious meeting Tuesday, board members failed to approve an emergency request to appropriate the $1.1 million that officials say is needed during the remaining months of fiscal 1998 to pay the court-ordered fees of criminal defense lawyers representing the seven.
The vote on the request was 9 to 8, with one board member abstaining and five others absent from the meeting or not participating in the discussion. That was well short of the two-thirds majority, or 16 votes, needed to approve an emergency appropriation under state law and board rules.
The board approved separate emergency appropriations, amounting to $500,000, to cover other legal costs, including the court-ordered fees of the case’s special prosecutor William J. Kunkle.
Left pending were claims from five defense lawyers for roughly $600,000 in fees. The proposed $1.1 million emergency appropration was intended to cover those bills and anticipated billings through the end of the fiscal year.
Terry Ekl, one of the defense lawyers who is seeking payment, said attorneys plan to confer Wednesday by telephone with Jo Daviess County Judge William A. Kelly. Kelly is the judge appointed by the state Supreme Court to preside over the trial of the seven.
“There is a certain faction (on the board) that does not want to see the county pay the fees, and they are attempting to obstruct in any way they can the payment of the fees,” said Ekl, who represents former DuPage prosecutor Thomas Knight.
Ekl said lawyers will ask Kelly to take whatever steps are necessary to enforce an earlier ruling, which had required that the county pay defense fees and expenses.
Those steps could include an order directing county Treasurer John L. Novak to pay the bills without board approval or a threat to hold board members in contempt of court.
There was much talk during Tuesday’s meeting that board members could face jail if they defy the judge. That seems unlikely, but a substantial body of law says court orders are binding on unwilling legislative bodies.
“In my lifetime,” said interim County Board Chairman John Case, “I have learned that judges are not always right, but they are never wrong.”
Knight and two other former DuPage prosecutors, as well as four sheriff’s deputies, were indicted in late 1996 on charges that they helped fabricate evidence against Rolando Cruz, one of two men sentenced to death but later exonerated in connection with the 1983 murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico.
For more than a year, the board has been deeply divided over whether taxpayer funds should be used to pay the legal fees in advance of trial for the sheriff’s deputies and former prosecutors.
Board members had hoped that the matter was settled in May when Kelly agreed to appoint defense lawyers as special state’s attorneys, which allowed them to be compensated by the county.
Before voting against the appropriation, board member Olivia Gow (R-Elmhurst) contended that Case had attempted to intimidate her into supporting the measure.
“I don’t like being threatened, even by you,” Gow said.
Gow and other opponents want Case to seek the appointment of another independent counsel to offer legal advice to board members on the fee issue. Glen Ellyn lawyer William E. Jegen was appointed to serve as independent counsel but was dismissed at the urging of most board members.
A testy Case denied afterward he had threatened Gow. But he expressed frustration at the continued debate among board members over whether county funds should be used to pay the fees.
“We are not always allowed to have all the answers to all of your questions,” Case said. “It frustrates me that when we have an answer to your questions, people refuse to accept the answers.”
Case said before making an early exit from the meeting that he and State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett had retained–informally, it seems–the services of Edward J. Egan, a retired Cook County and state Appellate Court judge, to answer queries from board members. Case said Egan was acting in “kind of an advisory capacity.”
Several board members said Case never told them the identity of the attorney with whom he had been consulting.
Also Tuesday, board members:
– Approved paying $104,400 to the Downers Grove based-architectural firm of Wight & Co., for design, engineering and construction management services in connection with the county’s plans for a veterans memorial at the county government complex in Wheaton.
– Endorsed Sheriff John Zaruba’s participation in gang- and major-crime task forces.
– Accepted the findings of a report by Auditor William Jacklin, who recommended tighter controls on out-of-state travel by board members.
