The Hound should have placed this bet years ago --- closing in on two to be exact. Attorneys for Lake County Circuit Court Judge David Hall alleged in court the other day that Vernon Hills cops erased video of the judge's DUI arrest. On purpose.
What motive police would have to destroy evidence is beyond The Hound. But it seems to be a defense move to place the cops on trial, rather than a judge whose blood-alcohol content was .107, above the legal limit of .08. Wonder how other county police officers might feel if they were accused --- by a Lake County judge's paid messengers --- of breaking the law regarding an arrest. Might they have questions about future court appearances? It's not like Hall's attorneys are dancing around this.
Their motion contends the "Vernon Hills Police Department had the memory of the squad car computer hard drive erased" sometime after the judge's traffic arrest. Sounds like a conspiracy, what Holmes? Just bringing this allegation up casts a pall over the arrest. If they have proof, the judge's attorneys should take this information to the Attorney General's Office for further investigation and prosecution, unless they're throwing this contention out there and hoping it sticks to the legal wall. That's what well-paid defense lawyers do, after all. They work all the angles.
Regardless, the judge's attorneys are ready to argue their motion March 1, which is nearly two years from Hall's April 26, 2008 arrest on DUI and resisting charges. The attorneys also claim the blood sample taken from the Waukegan jurist at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville also might be tainted because it was not properly preserved. Wasn't a similar allegation part of O.J. Simpson's defense? If it worked for him, might work for a judge.
Vernon Hills police and the attorney general's prosecutor contend it was an honest mistake that the video doesn't exist of the judge's arrest. Who do you believe: Cops from the mean streets of Vernon Hills or a judge's attorneys?
I wonder how long it would take a DUI to get to trial for Joe Sixpack? This is another instance where politics and 'who you know' rules Lake County.
THE HOUND SAYS: Hermie, you are soooooooo jaded.
I've been following this story from the start,and I think it's time for the good judge to MAN UP & FACE THE MUSIC...
If one of US came into HIS courtroom, and had circumstances like this in OUR case, do you think that would stop him from throwing the book at us????? ESPECIALLY when everyone's TRYING to get all the stinking drunks OFF the roads....
He would gain more respect if he just did the time for doing the crime, instead of wasting all that time & effort trying to get out of paying his dues....
It's only RIGHT..WE have to play by the rules, and SO SHOULD THEY.............I guess it's like the old saying..."money TALKS, bull**** walks.....It's a sad fact, but it will PROBABLY always be that way, too......
THE HOUND SEZ: But, Humpy, rules are made to be broken, eh, wot? Especially for everyone but The Hound, it seems.