POSITION PAPERS
OFFICE OF JOHN A. BARSANTI, KANE COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY

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As a guide to the voters, we have provided an outline of my positions on various issues involving the Office of the State's Attorney. These issues include: The Death Penalty, The Present Rate of Trials and Convictions, Children's & Elder Protection Division, Driving Under the Influence, Forfeitures, and Quality of Life Prosecution Unit. Additionally, I offer my approach for working with the County Board on the budget of the Office of the State's Attorney and on assistance in helping to relieve the overcrowded jail. I will also outline my support for Drug Abuse Court.

I. DEATH PENALTY

Between the years 1977 and 1999, there were more than 250 murder cases where a death penalty was imposed in Illinois. Of these, 12 people were executed, but during this time, 13 people were released from prison because there was insufficient evidence of guilt or proof of actual innocence.

In May of 2000, former Governor George Ryan created a Commission on Capital Punishment. The Commission's mandate was to make recommendations "designed to further ensure that application and administration of the death penalty in Illinois was just, fair, and accurate." The Commission was made up of 14 members. Twelve were lawyers, and nine of these were former prosecutors. The Commission spent two years of study and research and issued a list of recommendations.

Many of these recommendations, if not all, would require the passing of legislation to make them enforceable. Some of these recommendations have been or are in the process of being implemented. The recommendations are designed to achieve a single purpose: to make the death penalty system in Illinois "just, fair and accurate."

If I am elected State's Attorney, I intend to follow many of these recommendations and enforce them internally. In some instances, I will undertake responsibilities and burdens not legally required of a prosecutor's office. I do this because while I am in favor of the Death Penalty, I too believe the imposition of this drastic penalty has at times been flawed, and some measures must be taken to allow the imposition of the death penalty with no margin of error.

The following points reflect some of the steps I will take to ensure a just and fair capital trial. These are all either recommendations of the Commission or based on recommendations of the Commission.

1. Death Penalty Decision Committee
   In addition to my informal review process, I will form a Committee to review my Office's decision to seek the Death Penalty. The Committee will be comprised of a private attorney, a retired judge, a representative of law enforcement, the assigned prosecutor and me. The Committee will conduct a review of decisions to seek the death penalty. The Committee will be furnished all available information, and will be given an opportunity to hear the defense attorney make a presentation in mitigation.
   
   After their review, the Committee will make a recommendation to me, as the State's Attorney, on whether or not death would be a fair, suitable and just disposition. While as the elected State's Attorney I will make the final decision, I will make the recommendations of this committee public and consider the Committee's opinion very strongly.
   
   
2. Jail House Informant Testimony
   Often an in custody witness alleges the Defendant made an admission to him while the defendant was in custody. When requested by Death Penalty Counsel, I will agree to any request, and will urge the Court to hold a pre-trial hearing on the reliability of a jail house informant. Today no such hearing is required. As the Prosecutor, I will undertake to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the jail informant's testimony is reliable.
   
   
3. Sentencing Phase
   I have in the past, and will again, agree that the Court instruct and advise the jury in the sentencing phase of a capital case of the alternative sentences available in the event a death sentence is not imposed. I have in the past also agreed, and would continue to ask that the Court consider a special instruction to the jury when imposing the death penalty. I would agree to an instruction to the jury to consider, as a mitigating factor, the Defendant's history of extreme emotional or physical abuse or reduced mental capacity.
   
   
4. I have also, although not required to do so, undertaken to prove the existence of a Death Penalty qualifying factor prior to trial. I am willing to continue this practice. A Judge's decision finding a lack of probable cause on that factor will not be appealed.

The purpose of the above changes is not to abdicate my responsibilities as the State's Attorney, but is designed to build some fairness, credibility and reliability in the system.

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II. TRIALS AND CONVICTIONS

The Kane County State's Attorney's Office since 2001 has been among the least effective prosecutor's offices in the State of Illinois. The number of cases tried, as well as the number of defendants convicted after trial, has sunk to levels which put it in the bottom 5% of all the counties in Illinois.

I believe this sad statistic can be attributed to the following:

1. The loss of experienced prosecutors since December of 2000;
   
   
2. Relatively inexperienced prosecutors assigned to matters to which require an attorney with greater experience.
   
   
3. The revamped felony screening process.

In the past 3 years, the Kane County State's Attorney's Office has lost an unusually large number of experienced prosecutors. The reasons expressed for this departure range from salary considerations to questions concerning the integrity of the office.

A consequence of this drain of experienced prosecutors is the large reported statistical drop in efficiency and effectiveness. This dramatic change in conviction rates must be corrected.

I propose to implement the following changes to address this problem:

1. Redirect budgeted salary monies from new assistants to veteran assistant state's attorneys. The current administration has committed itself to raising the starting salaries of assistant state's attorneys to record levels. This misdirects the use of limited resources.
   
   I will concentrate our resources on compensating veteran prosecutors who can be more efficient and more effective. This will result in both the trial numbers and convictions rising dramatically.
   
   
2. The current State's Attorney has instituted a felony screening procedure which relies on assistants to perform police investigatory functions. This system does not add experience or value to the expertise of veteran police officers, but all too often has substituted police experience with that of inexperienced Assistant State's Attorney's. This process has resulted in the charging of bad cases and the overcharging of good cases.
   
   When the prosecutor becomes directly involved in the police investigatory functions, the office is unable to offer advice critically and becomes personally invested in the investigative process, unable to maintain the distance necessary to make proper decisions.
   
   I will return the screening process to its proper role, one of advice and charging. This will result in charging better cases, more trials and more convictions.
   
   
3. I will also introduce a more extensive Priority Prosecution unit to address the present shortcomings in quality prosecutions. I will move several current first chair prosecutors from their courtroom and place them in a unit designed to prosecute the most serious cases. This will put the most experienced and effective prosecutors on the most important and serious cases, without regard to courtrooms or locations. Again, this will result in more trials and more convictions.

I am confident these changes will result in the Kane County State's Attorney's Office becoming a leader in the State, both in trials conducted and convictions obtained.

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III. CHILDREN'S & ELDER PROTECTION DIVISION

As currently situated, each of the sections in the State's Attorney's Office which handles matters involving children act independently of each other. The Abuse and Neglect prosecutors are separate from Child Support Enforcement, and each of these units is separate from Delinquency and Domestic Violence prosecutions. Standing alone is the Child Advocacy Center. Although there may be many agencies that attempt to act as the voice of the child in Court, it is the State's Attorney who can marshall the most resources and act quickly to take custody of a child through the Court process and simultaneously prosecute an offender. I will make sure that the State's Attorney has the most powerful voice for a child.

In order to maximize the efforts of the various prosecutors, as well as utilize the efficiency of the office, as State's Attorney I will combine all of these units into a single Children's Protection Division. This Division will be led by an experienced prosecutor, and each element within the division will be supervised by an experienced prosecutor. The supervising lawyer of each unit will have "First Chair" status and regular and direct access to the Chief of that Division, and to the State's Attorney.

This fully coordinated division will be able to simultaneously remove any child who is subject to abuse, while making sure any person who has resources will support that child, and any other children he or she may have. At the same time, should a child be brought to the attention of the police on a delinquency matter, a coordinated effort will ensure that any services available will be utilized to assure that the child will not re-offend. Moreover, this unified approach will allow the rapid shifting of resources to react to any child in need. I will deal with all aspects of a child in need.

Unfortunately, many times our most elder citizens are also specifically targeted for crime. I will utilize the resources of the Children's and Elder Protection Division both to prosecute offenders and to assist in obtaining needed social services for our oldest citizens. My office will not simply prosecute an offender, but will call on the resources of the community to make sure our senior citizens are not victimized again.


IV. DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

While the police are the first line of defense against the drunk and drugged driver, the Office of the State's Attorney can utilize additional tools to make sure that every effort is made to keep the repeat drunk driver off the road. The State's Attorney has been given a tool by the legislature that is not presently used in Kane County, vehicle forfeiture. Our neighbor county, DuPage, has filed over 200 of these actions.

As State's Attorney, I will file forfeiture actions against those vehicles driven by those persons who have previously been convicted of DUI and are driving while their license is suspended or revoked. The law allows the State's Attorney to commence forfeiture actions when the driver of a vehicle has previously been convicted of more than one DUI, or where the driver is DUI while on a statutory suspension. I will file forfeiture actions, where possible, to take the most effective step in removing the drunk driver from the road, the forfeiture of his car. The Office will consider lenity where necessary, will not hesitate to begin forfeiture actions when appropriate and allowed under the law.


V. QUALITY OF LIFE PROSECUTIONS

The Illinois legislative has previously enacted statutes which give law enforcement civil court tools to fight crime. These tools are not presently being effectively used.

In some parts of our county, people are victimized not just by crime, but also by where this crime occurs. Often people are victimized when a slumlord rents to a group of "gang bangers," or where the prostitute walks close to businesses or residential areas, or when a neighbor can no longer keep his children from committing criminal acts. These nuisances make life much harder for the rest of the neighborhood.

As with drunk driving, the Illinois legislature has enacted statues which give law enforcement additional civil tools to fight crime. These statues allow the State's Attorney to file lawsuits against public nuisances. Such nuisances might include the owner of the vacant house overrun with teens or the owner of the house occupied by gang members.

These statutes, as well as others, allow the State's Attorney to seek injunctive relief, civil damages and attorney's fees, in addition to criminal prosecution. As State's Attorney, I will assign a prosecutor from the Civil Division to prosecute these cases simultaneously with the criminal prosecution whenever possible. Moreover, I will work with the leaders of our cities and towns to assure that this Office can assist their enforcement of the law wherever possible.

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VI. THE BUDGET OF THE STATE'S ATTORNEY

In a time of diminishing resources and tightened budgets, the States Attorney can be a leader in fiscal responsibility. As State's Attorney, I will work to assure an open honest working relationship with the County Board. I promise to work to assure that the budget of the State's Attorney is sufficient to meet the demands of the Office and maintain the quality and commitment to law enforcement required by my duty to the public. I will also work to assure that the office works within the budgetary considerations of the County Board as much as possible.

I will work to eliminate waste and redundancy in the Office. Combining multiple divisions into one Children's & Elder Protection Division is a first step toward eliminating redundancy.

I will utilize the forfeiture powers granted by the legislature to seize and sell property to help fund the work of his office. In addition, those statutes which allow the award of attorney's fees in civil prosecutions will be used whenever possible.

I will also work with our legislative leaders in an endeavor to seek a County Imposed Tax on the sale of any illicit drug in the County. This will allow the office of the State's Attorney to seek payment of that tax from anyone who admits to selling illegal drugs in Kane County.


VII. THE CROWDING OF THE KANE COUNTY JAIL

Complete relief from the constant overcrowding of the jail might only be solved by a new jail. In the interim, however, I will work to assure that only those persons who belong in jail are actually behind bars. Nonviolent offenders who can comply with the obligations of a lowered or a recognizance bond do not belong in the jail. Those persons who are charged with traffic offenses, but because of their personal economic difficulties cannot raise the funds to pay a $500.00 bond, should be considered for release prior to trial.

As State's Attorney, I will regularly communicate with the Sheriff to determine if there are any inmates who would fit the appropriate criteria for lowered bond or recognizance release, and then bring these cases promptly before the appropriate Judge. I will do all in my power to make sure that the jail always has room for those who belong in the Kane County Jail.


VIII. DRUG ABUSE COURT

As State's Attorney, I will work with the Drug Court Program set up through the 16th Judicial Circuit. I will both respect and support the current effort, but will go further by asking our legislative leaders and the County Board to authorize an additional fee of $5.00 on the filing of a civil action for Court Security purposes. In addition, to secure additional funds for drug court, we will ask municipalities whose residents participate in drug court, to allow 1% of the cities share of any drug forfeiture funds to go toward drug treatment costs.


John A. Barsanti

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