BELLEVILLE – State’s Attorney James Gomric prevented Circuit Judge Stephen McGlynn from hearing prisoner Santoin Russell’s petition for release.
“The Honorable Stephen McGlynn is prejudiced against the People,” assistant state’s attorney Steve Sallerson wrote in a substitution motion on Nov. 11.
McGlynn granted the motion on Nov. 14, and Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson assigned Associate Judge Julie Katz on Nov. 19.
Gleeson had assigned McGlynn after Circuit Judge Zina Cruse recused herself.
Gleeson had assigned Cruse after Circuit Judge John O’Gara recused himself.
Russell has tried for eight years to prove he doesn’t belong in prison, and Fifth District appellate judges have held twice that he deserves a hearing.
Earlier this year they ruled that former chief judge John Baricevic improperly allowed a prosecutor to oppose Russell at a hearing in 2015.
Jurors in the court of former associate judge Milton Wharton convicted Russell of murder in 2011, finding he and Terryon Triplett murdered Nina Polk in 2008.
Triplett had pleaded guilty prior to Russell’s trial, agreeing to serve 20 years and testify against Russell.
Russell appealed his conviction, and Fifth District judges affirmed Wharton.
Russell moved for a new trial, alleging ineffective assistance against defense counsel Kathleen MacElroy.
Such a petition requires two hearings for success.
At an initial hearing the prisoner lays out facts without counsel, the former defense counsel responds, and the prosecutor keeps quiet.
A judge who grants a second hearing appoints counsel for the prisoner.
Wharton held an initial hearing and denied the petition.
Russell appealed again, claiming Wharton didn’t hold a proper hearing.
Fifth District judges agreed in 2015, and they ordered another initial hearing.
Wharton had retired, and Baricevic assigned himself.
At the hearing, he let former prosecutor Deb Phillips argue against Russell.
Baricevic denied the petition, and Russell appealed for a third time.
Former state’s attorney Brendan Kelly simplified the appeal by conceding that Russell deserved another initial hearing.
Russell’s lawyer, appellate defender Josette Skelnik of Elgin, argued that Russell deserved to skip the initial hearing and proceed to the second stage.
Fifth District judges vacated Baricevic’s order this June, but rejected the request for a second stage hearing.
Sklenik moved for reconsideration, claiming Russell presented enough evidence to clear the first hurdle.
In that motion, she wrote that MacElroy promised to tender a jury instruction on an accomplice witness but failed to do so.
She wrote that Russell was convicted almost exclusively on Triplett’s testimony.
She wrote that Triplett claimed Russell initiated events leading to Polk’s murder but Russell denied taking part in it and said he tried to stop Triplett.
She wrote that MacElroy failed to call two witnesses who would have testified that the jacket he wore at his interrogation belonged to Triplett.
Fifth District judges denied reconsideration in July, and Skelnik petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court for leave to appeal.
The Supreme Court hadn’t resolved the petition as of Dec. 13, and Katz can’t set a hearing until they do.