Former Madison County prosecutor Julia Matoesian seeks to withdraw a confession her former attorney entered on her behalf in an age discrimination suit that she also seeks to withdraw against State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons and the county.
The confession was entered by Alton attorney Lee Barron on Aug. 26 as a response to a summary judgment motion that Gibbons and the county filed in June.
Matoesian, wife of Circuit Judge Andreas Matoesian, was 75 in 2012 when she was terminated from the State's Attorney's office; she sued in 2015.
In the county's summary judgment motion, an attorney for the county, Narcisa Symank, wrote that Gibbons had come to believe that Matoesian grossly mishandled traffic cases, for clients of a friend.
In response to the county, Barron wrote that given a Supreme Court standard as the Seventh Circuit applies it, “plaintiff confesses the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.”
On Sept. 11, Matoesian entered her appearance in the case at federal court.
"Plaintiff did not authorize the filing of a Response confession Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, had not been advised by her counsel that the Motion had been file, and did not have the opportunity to review the Motion prior to Counsel filing the Response," she wrote.
The docket indicates that Barron contacted Magistrate Judge Donald Wilkerson on Sept. 14 indicating he was withdrawing as counsel "forthwith."
In an order he entered that day, Wilkerson indicated that all future hearings in the matter were terminated.
Acting as her own attorney, Matoesian also indicated on Sept. 11 tht she wished to dismiss her suit against Gibbons and the county.
She wrote that defendants consent to the withdrawal of her response and stipulate to the dismissal of her case.