EDWARDSVILLE – When a Madison County judge rescinded the suspension of former U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton’s driver’s license following his second DUI in less than two years, skeptics may have figured he caught a special break. In reality, regular folks catch that break routinely.
A review of Madison County’s 2018 DUI docket indicates that among about 800 drivers facing charges, judges have rescinded approximately 150 suspensions.
Wigginton’s New Year's Eve DUI was thrown back into the spotlight recently by an admission of Circuit Clerk Mark von Nida who took responsibility for a clerk’s scheduling error which led to the rescission. Law requires a judicial hearing on a petitioner’s request to rescind statutory summary suspension within 30 days, but the hearing didn’t get scheduled on time for Wigginton.
“The mistake happened in my office,” von Nida said a few days after Associate Judge Jennifer Hightower’s March 7 rescission order for Wigginton.
At the time von Nida aired the issue, by initiating contact with media, he said that a total of six cases were affected when a long-time clerk made errors in scheduling the judicial hearings. Two of those cases were still able to be corrected, he said, and three of the cases were sent to the State’s Attorney’s office to notify them of the mistake.
Von Nida also said that it was the first time he had seen a hearing mistakenly scheduled beyond the 30-day window since his election as Circuit Clerk in 2012.
Statewide last year, Illinois judges rescinded 6,237 suspensions. Rescission doesn’t restore privileges but authorizes the Secretary of State to do so.
Wigginton has won rescission twice in two years.
On his first DUI that occurred May 23, 2017, Associate Judge Ronald Slemer granted rescission in July 2017, when Wigginton pleaded guilty and paid a $1,500 fine. Slemer found Wigginton didn’t receive proper notice of the suspension.
Hightower granted it again this March 7, following Wigginton’s Dec. 31 arrest, finding the state didn’t hold a hearing in 30 days as the law requires.
She released his license to his defense lawyer Curtis Dawson and wrote, “Defendant needs for travel purposes.”
While Wigginton has saved his driver’s license, he may have jeopardized another.
The docket shows investigator Jim Burton of Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission requested a copy of the case file in January.
Wigginton also faces possible consequences of a second DUI offense starting with either five days of imprisonment or 240 hours of community service.
Madison County 2018 DUI Sample
Last year, police in Madison County issued 880 DUI citations.
A random sample of 153 – or 17 percent of the total – identified 139 defendants, with 14 receiving both alcohol and drug tickets.
Among defendants in the sample, 86 requested rescission hearings. Almost every defendant with a private lawyer requested one.
The law requires reasons for a hearing, but lawyers usually skip specifics and simply list the subjects a hearing might cover.
Some claim the court must determine if anyone died.
Some petitions have lingered until defendants pleaded guilty, and some have lingered for months without resolution.
In the sample, judges resolved 31 petitions, which would translate to about 180 overall. They rescinded 26 suspensions, which would translate to about 150 overall.
Attorney Bryce Joiner of Edwardsville won seven rescissions, which would translate to about 40 overall.
Attorneys James Hackett of Edwardsville (former associate judge), Steven Selby of Alton, and Todd Taplin of Glen Carbon each won two.
In one case, Hightower found Collinsville police lacked probable cause to stop a driver on a narrow and curvy road in darkness.
She wrote that she viewed dash cameras and that the defendant’s truck touched the painted line, touched it again, and rode it briefly.
In most cases, assistants to State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons stipulated to rescission.
In some cases, judges granted rescission on the date of a guilty plea.
The average rescission came 91 days after arrest.
Joiner, who shares a practice with his mother Barbara Joiner, won a rescission 37 days after arrest, and Hackett won them after 38 and 39 days.
Bryce Joiner also got reduced charges for two clients to reckless driving, and a docket entry in another case shows somebody waived suspension.
But he also got himself removed from Hightower’s court.
She recused herself from all cases of Joiner Law Firm last December, causing Chief Judge David Hylla to reassign 271 cases.
On April 1, Hylla said Illinois judges can recuse themselves without stating their reasons, to protect the people involved.
“She chose not to state her reasons for it publicly,” Hylla said.
Hylla assigned Joiner’s cases to Slemer.