No speedy trial in McHenry County

I've written before about a friend in Crystal Lake whose angry neighbor (now, former neighbor) has filed multiple disorderly conduct charges against her.

When trial dates finally arrived on the first four charges, the neighbor didn't show up, and the cases were dropped.

There are three more cases pending. Two were filed in April 2008, and there have been over 35 court dates for each one. The third was filed in February 2009, and there have been over 25 court dates. Her first Special Public Defender (SPD) told her repeatedly not to come to court and didn't tell her he was asking the judge for a Fitness Evaluation.

The first psychologist agreed to by the the SPD and the prosecuting attorney for the City of Crystal Lake was a psychologist against whom she had filed a successful complaint with the IDPR, so he got tossed aside. The second psychologist turned out to work for the same healthcare organization as the Complainant, so he was tossed, too.

The cases continued to drag until today, when her (second) Special Public Defender finally got around to asking the Court to withdraw the Order for the Fitness Evaluation.

In Judge Graham's courtroom, the judge considered the Motion to Withdraw the order for a fitness evaluation and set a jury trial date in two cases for October 20, 2010 - all in about the time it took the defendant to walk from the courtroom seating to Judge Graham's bench. It was impossible to hear what was said between the judge and her attorney because of the extremely low tones. But there was no questioning of her about her fitness.

In Judge Weech's court the judge was very careful about asking whether the defendant understood the charge and the roles of her attorney and the prosecuting attorney. She does, and Judge Weech, of course, saw that immediately and withdrew the order.

She wants a jury trial, and the first available date in Judge Weech's calendar was November 16!

Will the Complainant show up? I'll let you know on October 20 and November 16.