St. Clair County Associate Judge Randall Kelley denied reconsideration of an order finding Brad Van Hoose guilty of misdemeanor assault.
At a hearing Thursday afternoon, Kelley told Van Hoose he had 30 days to appeal.
Representing himself, Van Hoose said that he would appeal.
Kelley found Van Hoose guilty at a bench trial in February after ruling that special prosecutor David Rands failed to prove a felony charge of threatening Caseyville mayor Leonard Black.
Van Hoose moved for reconsideration in March, arguing that he would have prepared to defend a misdemeanor charge if he had known he would face it.
He argued that Kelley should have disclosed a prior relationship with Bob Romanik, a witness at his trial.
He further said that another judge's denial of a protective order from the same incident precluded prosecution.
At the hearing, Kelley said the assault charge falls readily within the felony charge. He also said he had no partnership involvement or any other involvemnt at all with Romanik.
Kelley said denial of the protective order wasn't admissible in this proceeding.
He rejected a supplement Van Hoose filed in May, claiming Rands withheld a Federal Bureau of Investigation report and a grand jury transcript that would have helped him.
Van Hoose called his trial counsel, Jack Daugherty, as a witness.
"These docuennts would have been extremely helpful in developing strategy," Daugherty said.
He said he would have wanted to know about any investigation by federal prosecutors. He said he would have called the author of the FBI report as a witness.
Daugherty said that FBI agents have been allowed to testify in St. Clair County court.
He said he could have corroborated that Van Hoose was uncomfortable speaking with the Caseyville Police Department.
"There's a lot of things I would have done differently if I knew then what I know now," he said.
Van Hoose asked Daugherty if he was notified of a possible lesser charge.
Daugherty began to answer, but Kelley stopped him and said, "I would caution you not to be disingenuous."
Daugherty said he was tyring to answer the question.
"You have ethical considerations of your own," Kelley said.
Kelley disoposed of the question of a lesser charge by finding that a trier of fact "can't make a finding til all the facts are presented and all the arguemnts are made."
"They had ample time to prepare," Kelley said.
Kelley told Van Hoose that his reconsideration motion referred to the February order as a conviction.
He told Van Hoose he was not convicted, but was placed on supervision.