Result of Thomas Haas' Case

Recently I wrote about the Cindy O'Grady civil rights lawsuit against the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, and then I wrote about what led up to it - the arrest of Thomas Haas on a weapons charge by the Crystal Lake Police Department.

When I went to the courthouse last week, I could not find a court record in the public computer there that indicated why Haas' case was Nolle Prossed (dismissed) by Judge Weech. There was no Motion for dismissal in the court computer system, although there was a court order for him to get his guns back from the Crystal Lake PD.

I received a prompt response to my FOIA Request, which was filed after I called a clerk in the court's office, then called the State's Attorney's office (where I was directed to Court Administration), called the Public Defender's office, and then called Court Administration, where I left a message for a woman who never bothered to call me back with the public information.

Katherine Keefe, Clerk of the Circuit Court (the elected Clerk office, not a clerk), replied quickly to my FOIA Request and let me know that there is no written Motion for dismissal, because Judge Weech had accepted an oral motion from the Public Defender's office (which office had told me that they couldn't answer any questions).

All I can guess is that the Crystal Lake police officer who arrested Haas didn't show up in court, and so Judge Weech dismissed the case. Or maybe the officer was there and did not contest the oral motion for dismissal by the Public Defender. Without a written Motion it's hard to know exactly what happened.

Maybe the Court should review its procedures and require a written Motion on such an important matter.

Could somebody, somewhere, in the court system have answered my question last week about the public record in this case, so that a FOIA Request would not have been necessary? Doing so would have saved their time and taxpayer money.

The bottom line?

O'Grady's case was dismissed.
Haas's case was dismissed.
McHenry County Sheriff's Department is embroiled in one more lawsuit.