Petition for Special Prosecution (vs. Zinke)

You'll have to read Cal Skinner's McHenry County Blog a little later (maybe after 1:00PM) to know what happened in Judge Meyer's court this morning.

I was there for the first step in Case No. 12MR000459, the request by Sgt. John Koziol for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Undersheriff Andy Zinke for allegedly divulging confidential information in a DEA investigation to Brian Goode, President of RITA Corporation.

But I don't have a clue what happened. I saw Cal taking notes. Judge Meyer called all cases that were uncontested or negotiated. Attorneys strode up to the bench, lips moved on the faces of the attorneys, Judge Meyer nodded and spoke, and attorneys left and others approached.

I did not hear Judge Meyer call the case involving Sgt. Koziol's request.

I did see MCSD EEO Officer Don Leist in the courtroom and guessed he was there to observe what was going on. I wondered why he stepped forward to the tables reserved for attorneys and why he crossed the courtroom and sat down in the jury seating area, an area normally reserved for overflow seating for attorneys involved in cases.

While Leist is an attorney by education and by registration with the Illinois ARDC, he is not the attorney for the Sheriff's Department. He is a civilian employee of the Sheriff's Department who just happens also to be an attorney. At one point Leist walked over the the attorney's table and engaged in a conversation with an attorney, while court was in session. Leist belonged seated in the general courtroom seating, just like every other observer there.

Hello? Where was the bailiff's attention? Are bailiffs ordered by their judges not to confront attorneys who fail to remain quiet in the courtroom or who sit in attorney seating, when they are not involved in a case?

In what I think may have been Koziol's case, there was some quiet discussion at the bench about something that was negotiated yesterday. Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally was at the bench, presumably representing Zinke, if that was Koziol's case that was actually being heard.

You know? When you can't hear because attorneys and the judge don't speak up, it's probably easy to get information wrong.

That whole matter, if it was Koziol's case, was handled in far too low a key by Koziol's attorney for anyone to expect success. There was a distinct absence of "personal power" and forceful, confident presentation. It certainly didn't need to be overbearing, but it should have been somewhere between assertive and aggressive.

I'll give today's courtroom festivities a grade of D.