Chris KeelEAST ST. LOUIS – As Doug Oliver accepted a 30-year sentence for selling heroin, he dropped the first solid clue in months that an investigation of St. Clair County corruption continues.At his sentencing hearing on Dec. 5, he told Chief District Judge David Herndon that he is cooperating with St. Clair County authorities.Prosecutor Robert Garrison apparently hadn’t expected him to reveal his
HaidaMurder suspect William Cosby won a new trial after trying to remove public defender Charles Baricevic from his case for failing to argue that the drug addiction of former St. Clair County judge Michael Cook corrupted his trial.Cosby filed a pro se motion to withdraw Baricevic on Aug. 22, writing that his attorney “steadfastly refuses” to raise issues Cosby wanted to raise.Cosby wrote that the
DuffyA federal judge today granted Paul Duffy’s request for an extension of time to respond to an amended counterclaim filed last month by the defendants in a pair of defamation suits brought earlier this year by Duffy and Prenda Law.Duffy --who represents himself and the now-dissolved firm in the suits that were consolidated this summer in Chicago’s federal court -- wrote in his Sept. 30 motion that
Kelly CookFormer St. Clair County Judge Michael Cook slurred his speech while instructing jurors at a March murder trial, according to defendant Stanley Muse who now seeks a new trial. But State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly’s office said it didn’t matter because Cook provided jurors with instructions in writing. Kelly’s argument reflects the difficulty he faces in preserving guilty verdicts and pleas that
St. Clair County Chief Judge John Baricevic can find no evidence that James Fogarty misused his former position as a probation officer while allegedly selling cocaine.