Thanks to a tip from a reader, I looked at this case today.
How did Woodstock PD or the McHenry County State's Attorney's office botch the case again Philip M. Williams, 30, after he was arrested at the end of August and found with 17 pounds of marijuana?
Oh, does Illinois have a new law allowing recreational use of marijuana? Seventeen pounds ought to provide for a lot of fun; right?
Williams was arrested in Woodstock.
On October 20 charges were nolle prossed in McHenry County Court. Now he, through his lawyer at Donahue & Walsh, is asking for the charges to be expunged. You know what that means; right? Erased from his record. Gone. Ancient history. Not even "history". Gone. Removed from the court records.
Exactly what happened between the time of arrest and October 20. What could his attorney have claimed?
There was a motion to dump Judge Prather from the case. Gee, imagine that.
And then Judge Feeterer threw the case out. WHY?
You'd hope the Northwest Herald would do some digging. Maybe today's article explains it, but I've hit my limit of free pages and cannot read the full article. Would someone like to summarize it? What pitch was made to Judge Feeterer on October 20?
Williams wants his car and the pot back and his record wiped clean. Should that really happen?
Presumably, his vehicle was impounded by the Woodstock Police and was subject to a $500 retrieval fee. Was that paid? The only way he can get the $500 back is, thanks for wording in the Woodstock ordinance, is for him to be found Not Guilty. So there would have to be a trial. There wasn't. He wasn't found Nor Guilty. Will Woodstock hang onto the $500?
On January 4, 2017, the expungement hearing will be back in Judge Prather's court. Will her nose be out-of-joint over being replaced in the case?
If you want a copy of the court activity, better make it now. Go to www.mchenrycircuitclerk.org and search for the defendant's name. If the record is expunged, it'll be gone from the records, all of the records.
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4 comments:
I received this comment from a reader. "Woodstock Police chief was upset about this, he (Williams) was pulled over on suspended license, with expired plates. They dismissed all counts even traffic before the motion to suppress was even heard.."
Why would the Office of the McHenry County State's Attorney not fight a dismissal of the charges? Or did it? On the surface, the traffic stop looks good. Was there something wrong with the search or arrest?
Ill bet they screwed up the search and seizure, he did not give consent to search the car and in my experience the police are searchng cars even if the dog gives a weird look, not even a positive sign. According to the article he did get his car back, ill bet Woodstock ate the $500.
The impoundment ordinance was prepared by the City Attorney, the contracted Crystal Lake firm of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, which advises MANY McHenry County jurisdictions. The provision for return of the $500 Impound Fine is extremely unfair. The defendant MUST have a trial and be found not guilty. It's not good enough for a case to be so rotten that it gets thrown out. I ranted about this in 2012-13, to no avail.
If the Woodstock City Council cared about fairness, they would tell their law firm that the ordinance stinks as written and to prepare an amendment.
Was Woodstock's K-9 involved when Williams was stopped?
Check out the Northwest Herald.
Ya think this driver was profiled? Gee, the cops only found 17 lbs. of marijuana. Was the driver "known" to the cops? Did the driver "forget" it was in the trunk?
Why would the cop "ask" if he could have a drug dog "search" the outside of the car? You just summon the K-9 and let him walk around. Isn't that how it's done? The dog probably isn't going to miss 17 lbs. of pot in the trunk, unless there is plenty of pepper around it.
Now Woodstock is involved in a Federal lawsuit... What will that cost?
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