Incredible Story of Wacky Judge in Chicago

[LegalScholar]

Cook County Judge a Loose Cannon

by David Protess, Huffington Post

Serbian immigrant Marko Pantelic drove across town to the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Sept. 6 to support a wrongfully accused friend and "to see how justice works in America." He should have stayed home.

Pantelic, 26, took a seat in the third row of courtroom 506 next to his friend, Bratislav Kovacevic, who figured prosecutors would drop battery charges against him. This was not unrealistic considering that the victim, Marija Nikolska, admitted she had misidentified him as the mope who broke her nose.

The victim's advocate, Spomenka Luedi, M.D. and DDS., sat directly behind the men, pleased that Nikolska was in court to rectify her mistake. Glancing at the judge, Luedi thought it odd that she kept zipping and unzipping her robe, but this judge had some weird mannerisms. The zipping and unzipping intensified. Then the judge fixed her gaze on Pantelic, and the zipping stopped.

"Mr. Pantelic leaned over to his friend and whispered something during a recess," Luedi said in an interview. "At this point, the judge went berserk."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-protess/cook-county-judge-a-loose_b_3973197.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. This is intolerable.

She needs to be institutionalized.

[IADEMO2004]

2. Today!

[LegalScholar]

3. This is just one story

This really makes you stop to think about all the injustice that is going on in court rooms everywhere. Think about all the Markos out there who never receive any press.

[gopiscrap]

4. This is crazy

[gopiscrap]

5. Welcome to DU!

[LegalScholar]

6. Thanks!

[LegalScholar]

7. MARKO SET FREE!

Read the update at the end of the original story.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-protess/cook-county-judge-a-loose_b_3973197.html

[frazzled]

8. It is almost impossible to get these judges voted out of office

I find it infuriating every voting cycle, when I spend hours reading through the various judicial ratings and then preparing a cheat sheet to take to the polls for myself and mr. frazzled. (Thankfully, there are places like http://www.voteforjudges.org/2012_GENERAL_ELECTION_RATINGS_from_the_Alliance.pdf which includes ratings from the following: Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago
Area (AABA), Black Women’s Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago (BWLA), Chicago Council of Lawyers (CCL),
Cook County Bar Association (CCBA), Decalogue Society of Lawyers (DSL), Hellenic Bar Association (HBA),
Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois (HLAI), Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA),
Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago (LAGBAC), Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois (PRBA), and
Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI) ).

And the result? Let me quote:

“Since the 1960s, there have been 14 judges that have not been retained in Cook County. So in general, judges are always – or nearly always – retained. Because in Cook County while there have been 14 that have not been retained throughout the history of our retention process, there have been no judges that have been not retained since 1990.”
http://www.wbez.org/blog/city-room-blog/election-file-voting-guide-should-i-‘retain’-these-judges-or-boot-them

How do we overcome this?

[LegalScholar]

9. Once you're elected or appointed to the judiciary...

...seems like you're set for life.

Nice gig, 'eh?

[ColesCountyDem]

10. M suggestion is two-fold:

1.) Lower the retention threshold to 50% +1;

2.) Make the retention question a 4-year one, rather than the current 10-year.

[frazzled]

11. Good suggestions, but not sure if even they would help

The fact is, too many regular citizens don't even bother to vote this part of the ballot. And who could blame them? You have 65 judges you've never heard of, and researching it is neither a pleasant task nor even very helpful. All these judges need to do is get a few hundred friends and family members to vote to retain them and they've probably beaten the odds!

[mopinko]

13. i vote no on all retentions.

there is no way i am going to hurt a good judge. but if i can add my vote to any campaign to get rid of a bad judge, i am in.

i am very careful with the elections, but the retentions? 60% is nuts.

[IrishAyes]

12. That woman is crazy and so is the system that protects her instead of her victims.