On June 20 the McHenry County State's Attorney's office dropped charges against Ehren Sanders, 33.
Sanders had been charged on May 1 with three criminal misdemeanors, which need not be repeated here because the charges were dropped. There is no attorney-of-record shown in the McHenry County Circuit Court online records, so Sanders must have represented himself. He probably saved himself $5,000. Good job, Ehren.
How do charges that aren't going to hold up get filed?
According to this morning's Northwest Herald, the State's Attorney's office informed deputies of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department that they would not approve felony charges.
Who all would have been involved in a decision at the Sheriff's Department to file charges?
First, there would have been the first deputy dispatched on a call, who would have taken a report. Then he would have conferred with his shift sergeant.
Then probably a lieutenant would have gotten involved, and maybe the undersheriff and then, perhaps because of Sanders' being related to a previous challenger of Sheriff Nygren in a county-wide race for the office of sheriff, maybe even someone tracked Nygren down to discuss filing of charges. I'll bet there is no paper trail of those calls, although there should be.
Sanders was jailed, and Judge Gordon Graham advised him of his rights in the Jail Court on May 1. The Jail Court is used for defendants who are in custody.
Sanders next court date was May 23, when his case was continued.
At his next court date, June 20, all the counts were nolle prossed. No attorney is shown as representing Sanders. Was he pro se?
How could he be charged as he was and the case be so weak that the State would drop charges?
If Sanders wants all this trash removed from the Court's records, he'll have to spend money to have the records expunged.
Should he sue the Sheriff's Department? You bet!
And just in case anyone is wondering whether I know Tom Sanders, Chief of the Spring Grove P.D., yes, I met him when he was running against Nygren, and I went to one fundraiser then. I haven't spoken with Tom in ten years.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
11 comments:
This is just so curious. You won't mention the charges here? You have mentioned charges when they were JUST pending, in literally a ton of other cases.
I think it was right not to mention the basis of the case here, but it has got me thinking ...
Why is this case different?
I find it deeply troubling how this case was handled in the State Attorney's office. The Chief of Spring Grove's police department has deep political and financial connections to key members of the State's Attorneys investigation team as well as his political team. Charges like this would not have been disappeared like this for anyone. Gus, if this was the Sheriff department refusing to press charges against a political ally of the Sheriff's I suspect your tone would be significantly different. The sad fact is the woman involved never stood a chance at a fair shot in the justice system as the political machines simply took over.
I dunno, Ray. Do you think this might be a case of delayed "payback"?
Ehren's father ran for sheriff against Nygren and lost (of course), but he had the guts to run against him.
If the SAO told the Sheriff's Dept. NOT to file the charges, and they did, anyway, what's the real back story?
And what does Tom have to do with the story? Absolutely nothing. Never should have been mentioned by the Northwest Herald.
Maybe this whole thing smells. So, why did the SAO drop these charges? Did they give the judge a reason or just drop out?
If there was solid evidence of crimes, the arrests were good and the State should have prosecuted.
I guess the way you find out if the evidence is solid is a trial.
You still didn't say why you didn't mention what the specific charges were, when you do in almost every other case...
Ray, Gus never answers your questions. He's like Judge Judy.
I just worry about the woman. Her complaint was towards someone whose family had strong political ties to the States Attorneys office, she probably never stood a chance of getting fair treatment.
Actually quite disappointed in you for this one, Gus. We don't always agree but I at least always respected how you would keep the power brokers feet to the fire. You seem to have thrown this girl under the bus when this connected family was able to make her complaint disappear...all to seemingly carry out your grudge against the Sheriff. She should have at least had her day in court even if the guy she accused of assaulting her is "connected".
Gus, their are some shady connections between these parties. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars held in a "charity" collected under the McHenry County Sheriff title. Both Sanders and Bianchi's right hand Salgado are the handful of elites holding this cash. I get some of your beefs with the Sheriff but this one isn't about him.
http://ag.state.il.us/PDF_IMAGES/Indexes20101119/01024997-2009.pdf
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/financialDoc.jsp?ein=363866888&id=IL025428&orgName=MCHENRY%2BCOUNTY%2BSHERIFFS%2BPOLICE%2BFRATERNAL%2BORDER%2BOF%2BPOLICE%2BPATROLMANS%2BLODGE%2B%2523%2B118®num=01024997
This money was collected from people who thought they were helping all the Deputies. What apparently actually happens is it pays for the health insurance of only a couple of local political elites.
So did this guy's amazing "pro se" skills get this "nolle prossed"? Or is it at least possible that the $300,000+ "charity" account his dad shares with the States Attorney's right hand man (that it has been stated in the past pays for both their health insurance premiums) at least possibly have had anything to do with the charges disappearing?
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