MOUNT VERNON – Prosecutor Patrick Daly told appellate judges he didn’t know what a wall between former Caseyville mayor Leonard Black and Brad Van Hoose of Belleville looked like when Van Hoose allegedly assaulted Black.
Fifth District judges weighed the evidence for Van Hoose’s misdemeanor conviction on June 2, with Van Hoose observing on Zoom at the courthouse in Mount Vernon.
Ever since former St. Clair County Associate Judge Randall Kelley handed down the verdict in a February 2017 bench trial, Van Hoose has been fighting to get the conviction overturned in effort to clear his name and record, arguing that no assault took place and that prosecutors withheld a Federal Bureau of Investigation report that could have prevented his conviction.
Van Hoose’s appellate attorney Richard Whitney argued that the distance between Van Hoose and Black, 15 to 20 feet, showed Van Hoose posed no imminent threat.
Whitney said words alone are insufficient for conviction.
“Where is the conduct?” he said. “There wasn’t any.”
St. Clair County grand jurors indicted Van Hoose on a felony charge of threatening a public official in 2016.
The indictment alleged that he yelled at Black on the parking lot of a Caseyville restaurant, in connection with Black’s position as mayor.
At trial, Judge Kelley heard testimony from Black and former radio station owner Bob Romanik.
Kelley ruled that Van Hoose didn’t commit a felony because his words didn’t connect to Black’s position, but that Van Hoose committed a misdemeanor.
At oral argument, defense counsel Whitney said Black testified that Van Hoose came flying up the hill on his motorcycle.
“He didn’t say he came flying towards me,” Whitney said.
He said Romanik testified that Van Hoose was walking his bike up the hill.
He said neither Black nor Romanik said Van Hoose came in close proximity, and no one contradicted Black’s testimony that Van Hoose was 15 to 20 feet away.
He said Kelley never mentioned conduct in his ruling.
Prosecutor Daly said a vigorous examination of facts and context would show Black was in apprehension of battery.
Justice David Overstreet asked Daly about an order of protection case.
Black petitioned for an order against Van Hoose in 2016, but St. Clair County Associate Judge Patricia Kievlin denied it.
Daly changed the subject and said Van Hoose’s motorcycle was roaring as he rode alongside Black.
He said Black testified he was afraid of Van Hoose’s conduct.
He said Van Hoose wasn’t at a distance hurling epithet; he said there was a retaining wall between them.
“I don’t know what that retaining wall looks like,” he said. “The record doesn’t reflect the exact proximity of that event.”
Whitney said Van Hoose was not roaring or flying.
He said it wasn’t in the record that Van Hoose approached Black.
Whitney ran for governor on the Green Party ticket in 2006, and 360,000 Illinois citizens voted for him.
His website identifies him as commentator, satirist, and disc jockey at WDBX-FM community radio in Carbondale.
Daly supervises seven appellate prosecutors as deputy director of the State’s Attorneys’ Appellate Prosecutor in Mount Vernon.
He previously prosecuted criminal cases in Jackson County.