Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hubbard next court date Aug. 12

Steven J. Hubbard's case (11CF000754) was continued today and Judge Prather was dumped. A motion by the defense to get a new judge was granted, and Judge Condon takes over on Friday. Hubbard's next court date is Friday, August 12, 9:00AM, in Courtroom 302 at the McHenry County Government Center in Woodstock. An early matter is a bond hearing; presumably, Hubbard will seek a reduction in the $100,000 bond set last week.

Hubbard was arrested last Wednesday, and the first mention of that arrest in mainstream media was not until this morning. The McHenry Police Department is staying mum, and calls to it are not being returned.

The Northwest Herald threw a softball in its headline this morning. Usually, it is hard-hitting in sex crime articles, especially those involving children. Its headline this morning was "Man Charged with Attempted Abuse".

Because the McHenry Police Department made the arrest, one would think that it would issue a statement, hold a press conference or do or say something. Instead, everybody is really quiet on this one.

Hubbard is entitled to a presumption of innocence. Should it turn out that the charges are baseless, it's hard to restore one's reputation with the community and an employer. A natural assumption is that the McHenry Police Department carefully investigated before charging Hubbard. But how long did they investigate?

The Complaint reads that on or about August 3rd Hubbard committed the offenses. If that date is correct and since he was arrested that day, how did the McHenry Police Department investigate so quickly and get the State's Attorney's Office to agree so quickly to the felony charges? Hubbard's defense firm, Gummerson Rausch et al., filed a subpoena last Friday to obtain records from the Child Advocacy Center of McHenry County.

Something in the timeline is not computing for me. Is the August 3rd date correct?

And where was Hubbard arrested?

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