SPRINGFIELD – John Rekowski, who retired as Madison County public defender, takes a seat as commissioner in the Office of the State Appellate Defender.
Supreme Court Justices appointed him on March 11, to fill a position that William Lucco of Edwardsville held until his term expired in January.
After years representing criminal defendants, Rekowski now stands as defendant in a civil action at U.S. district court.
Thomas Maag of Wood River sued the office and its commissioners on March 3, claiming they advanced cases so slowly that they violated the rights of suspects.
Maag proposes to certify Jerry Yeager as representative for a class action, stating a jury dismissed charges against him but convicted him of a lesser offense.
On March 15, Rekowski said he was briefed on the suit, and that it appeared to allege that the office is slow.
“I’ve dealt with the appellate defender,” he said. “I used to send appeals to them.”
He said the office always had a backlog and the appellate defender was aware of it.
The current backlog is 1,975 cases in briefing, he said, down from last year.
One of the ways the office is dealing with the backlog is through a contract program for writing appeal briefs, aided by free “pro bono” counsel.
It has so far assigned 40 appeals to lawyers in the First and Second Districts, in the Chicago area, and the office hopes to boost it to 70.
Rekowski said another reason for a reduced backlog is that there haven’t been any trials in the lockdown.
“Our appointments are down but our production hasn’t gone down,” he said.
He said he has spoken to groups and some have asked why they should pay to defend criminal suspects.
He said he tells them they should want a good public defender like they want a good county clerk.
He said pro bono representation might not always benefit suspects.
“I’m not sure criminal defense is the best place for it with lives at stake,” he said. “It’s become much more of a specialty than it used to be.”
Rekowski, who earned his license in 1979, said Illinois criminal code has grown from about 250 pages to about 500.
“We have drug courts, veterans courts, domestic abuse courts,” he said. “You can’t just walk in and be competent.”
Maag’s suit alleges that the office’s filing rules are meaningless due to the backlog.
He claims Yeager’s dates passed and no brief was filed or even started on.
“It is highly unlikely that the appellate court of Illinois would grant private counsel the same extensions that it affords the public defender,” he wrote.
He claims Yeager had no one assigned to his file despite six months pending since he filed an appeal notice.
He seeks an order directing the office to hire staff so they can file an opening brief within 90 days of an appeal notice.
Magistrate Judge Reona Daly will preside over Maag’s suit unless a party declines consent to magistrate jurisdiction.
If that happens the court clerk will assign a district judge.