Chicago attorney sues Madison County officials and websites that reported news about him

CHICAGO - Lawyer Meanith Huon, who successfully defended himself against sexual assault charges in Madison County, has sued those who brought the charges.

On May 6, in federal court at Chicago, he alleged wrongful prosecution against former state's attorney William Mudge, now a circuit judge.

Acting as his own lawyer, Huon sued three other county prosecutors, four officers of the sheriff's department, and Chicago police.

"As a matter of official policy and practice, the Madison County sheriff department and the Madison County state's attorney office engaged in false arrest and prosecutorial misconduct by targeting minorities and people of color," he wrote.

Huon, who identifies himself as Cambodian, wrote that Mudge and others concealed
evidence, made false statements, and deprived him of constitutional rights.

He wrote that they illegally wiretapped his cell phone and submitted a false affidavit to obtain a warrant to search his computers.

He wrote that they overcharged him to pressure him into a plea of conviction.

On the same date, in the same court, he sued Above the Law and Breaking Media, websites that posted news about him.

"The false light in which defendants portrayed Mr. Huon would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, in that the suggestion of the article is that Mr. Huon got away with rape," he wrote.

He claimed personal injuries including emotional distress, damage to his reputation, loss of standing in the community, and injury to his professional reputation.

He sought punitive damages of $50 million.

Madison County jurors acquitted him of sexual assault charges last May.

Huon worked at the firm of Johnson and Bell, in Chicago, from 2003 to 2008.

The firm fired him, and he sued the firm in 2009.

A Cook County judge dismissed the suit, and he appealed.

He filed a similar suit in federal court, and U. S. District Judge Blanche Manning stayed it pending the outcome of his appeal in state court.

He appealed Manning's decision to the Seventh Circuit appeals court in Chicago.

Both appeals remain pending.

The Seventh Circuit has set argument on June 14.