"Fugitive" still in jail (corrected)

Remember back in December when the fugitive apprehension team of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department went all the way (100 miles) to Bourbonnais, Illinois, to sweep up a woman wanted for 13 years on a warrant that was issued in 1996?

How many deputies went in how many vehicles to arrest this "dangerous wanted person"?

The woman, 33, has been in the McHenry County Jail since her arrest, unable to post 10% of her now $37,500 bail. Her public defender, Richard Behof, claims that his client had never attempted to avoid arrest, has resided in Illinois, received Social Security benefits for seven years (and presumably could have been easily found through a cooperative effort with the SSA). (On January 6 I wrote that her bail was chopped 90% and that she needed to post only $1,500 to get her "Get out of jail" card. Now she has to come up with $3,750; maybe I missed the article increasing her bail from $15,000 to $37,500.)

There must be a rubber stamp in the courthouse that guarantees a next court date at least 30 days in the future; i.e., not sooner than 30 days. The woman's next court date is March 23, and she'll most likely sit in the jail until then.

Is she a candidate for a personal recognizance bond? Since it took the sheriff's department 13 years to open the file drawer and blow the dust off her warrant, she can't be that great of a flight risk. Was she working in December? Has she lost her job by being in jail for three months?

Let's say that Behof is successful in persuading Judge Prather that the warrant and charges are so stale as to be worthless. Then this woman will have sat in jail for 90 days.

Did the fugitive apprehension team strut around her front yard, high-fiving each other, and celebrating their "success" at capturing a person wanted for 13 years?

Do we have a criminal justice system in McHenry County? Any justice at all?

This woman's hearing ought to be February 23, not March 23. In fact, it should have been held, and completed, early in January. Either the warrant and charges are still valid or they are not. That decision is not all that difficult.

*** 2/18/10 6:15PM CORRECTION. This woman is no longer in McHenry County Jail. She was released within the past month. ***