Cook County prosecutors will no longer handle eight cases involving alleged misconduct by a former detective who is married to a sitting Cook County judge.
State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office asked that a special prosecutor be appointed to replace them on those cases. Their request came after the criminal division’s top judge made the surprise decision earlier this year that the cases should be heard by a judge outside Cook County, to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
The upheaval around the eight cases — most of which are in various stages of post-conviction proceedings — highlights the extraordinarily close-knit nature of Cook County criminal courts and has left attorneys for the detective’s accusers with little clarity on what might come next.
Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan was a Cook County prosecutor for her entire career before taking the bench in 2000. She has been married to Kriston Kato, a retired Chicago police detective, since 2006.
Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan listens during a hearing on Nov. 5, 2015, at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
In Will County Judge David Carlson’s courtroom Thursday, Assistant State’s Attorney Carol Rogala said Cook County prosecutors wanted to be removed for essentially the same reason Cook County judges were recused: to avoid any possible public perception of a conflict.
Carlson on Thursday speculated that the decision might open a “Pandora’s box” of unintended consequences, and pressed Rogala determinedly on why, exactly, their office wanted to withdraw.
But ultimately, both Rogala and the attorneys for Kato’s accusers said Illinois statute was clear: A state’s attorney can file a formal motion to recuse herself from a case for any reason, and a judge must appoint a special prosecutor.
“So all you have to say is ‘I’m out’?” Carlson said from the bench, before granting prosecutors’ request to withdraw.
Carlson said he would begin the search for a special prosecutor, but seemed pessimistic that a public prosecuting agency would be inclined to take over such old and extremely complicated cases, indicating it would probably end up being a private attorney specially appointed at taxpayer expense.
Kriston Kato testifies Aug. 11, 2017, during the Jason Van Dyke trial at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
“I don’t know who, if anybody … is going to want to add a bunch of cases to their caseload,” he said. “In the meantime, I suppose we should tell Cook County to get their checkbooks ready.”
Perhaps most consequentially, Carlson said that if he let Cook County prosecutors withdraw, all eight cases would have to start from scratch: “We’re starting all over with everything.”
That could be a daunting prospect for many of the accusers, some of whom have already been in post-conviction proceedings for a long time.
“If the recusal of the judiciary was based on a conflict … why should any decision made by that judge stand?” Carlson mused from the bench.
Karl Leonard, who represents two Kato accusers — one of whom was on the brink of a hearing on his claims of abuse before the case was moved to the Will County judge — told the judge that the cases were moved due to an “appearance of impropriety,” not because someone found there was a conflict of interest.
And, he said, “if there is a conflict, the people who suffer from that should not be the wrongfully convicted.”
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
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