The Chicago Tribune reports that the Illinois Supreme Court has appointed an associate judge from Madison County to hear the DUI case against St. Clair County Judge Patrick Young.
Janet Heflin will preside over the traffic case involving St. Clair County Judge Patrick Young, who was charged with DUI after a Dec. 3 wreck in Belleville.
Heflin, 40, was criticized earlier this year when she allowed an Alton lawyer convicted twice of drunken driving to receive court supervision, despite a state law limiting supervision in such cases to once in a lifetime. Heflin has said that she was unaware of the prior matter.
Heflin declined on Wednesday to discuss Young's case or her appointment to it.
Belleville police say Young was driving a sport utility vehicle also occupied by St. Clair County Chief Judge Jan Fiss when the vehicle veered into the path of a pickup truck, injuring that driver.
Young, 58, was charged with drunken driving after refusing a sobriety test. Fiss, 64, who police say was seen dumping out a beer and trying to hide a beer can, was not charged.
Ed Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League recently blogged about this situation on Illinois Justice Blog:
It is not unreasonable to expect - to demand - judges to be held to that higher standard.
They ought to minimally be held to a standard that says you don’t break the law. They ought to minimally be held to a standard that says you exercise common sense at all times. They ought to minimally be held to a standard that says you don’t try to skirt the law by concealing evidence.
When they don’t they ought to be removed.
