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McCall v. Devine8/30/2002
s to hold that McCall's allegation that 90% of the Cook County State's Attorney's office's cases came from the Chicago police department will always require that a special prosecutor be appointed whenever anyone alleges wrongdoing on the part of Chicago police department personnel. While this allegation does establish a close professional working relationship, nothing in the allegation shows that Devine would not zealously represent the People of the State of Illinois in this case of alleged police misconduct.
McCall further supports her argument on appeal with the assertion that the State's Attorney failed to investigate or prosecute police officers involved in "the shooting death of Robert Russ; the arrest and detention of R.G. and E.H.; the use of perjured evidence resulting in the convictions and ultimately the 20 year prison terms of Willie Rainge, Kenny Adams, Verneal Jimerson and Dennis Williams; or the use of perjured testimony to convict and imprison John Willis and Anthony Porter and other cases." The convictions of Rainge, Adams, Jimerson and Williams arose out of an investigation by the Cook County sheriff's department and several suburban police departments. People v. Rainge, 211 Ill. App. 3d 432 (1991). Using the figures supplied by McCall, significantly less than 10% of the criminal cases prosecuted by the Cook County State's Attorney's office were investigated by those departments. The fact that the State's Attorney's office failed to prosecute the police officers involved in the Rainge case actually contradicts McCall's assertion that it is the State's Attorney's office's dependent relationship with the Chicago police department that prevents that office from investigating and prosecuting Chicago police officers. Applying the rationale advanced by McCall on appeal, courts should appoint special prosecutors to investigate every complaint of possible wrongdoing by law enforcement officers of any agency that has a working relationship with the Cook County State's Attorney's office. We flatly reject this argument.
In affirming the denial of a request for appointment of counsel other than the Attorney General's office, our supreme court has explained: "It seems to us that if the Attorney General is to have the unqualified role of chief legal officer of the State, he or she must be able to direct the legal affairs of the State and its agencies. Only in this way will the Attorney General properly serve the State and the public interest." Environmental Protection Agency, 69 Ill. 2d at 401-02.
In support of the notion that Devine's office and the Chicago police are so intertwined as to create a conflict of interest, McCall avers that Devine's office is dependent on the Chicago police to "obtain evidence upon which to base its prosecutions of alleged criminal conduct." Again, all this allegation does is demonstrate that a close professional relationship exists between these two agencies and, in a very limited way, defines the nature of the relationship. Generally, " erformance of one's official functions will not create a conflict of interest." People v. Dall, 207 Ill. App. 3d at 530, citing Environmental Protection Agency, 69 Ill. 2d 394. In addition:
" he State's Attorney does not represent individuals or specific witnesses during the course of criminal prosecutions. Criminal prosecutions are commenced in the name of and on behalf of the people of the State of Illinois . To hold that a special prosecutor must always be appointed whenever a victim or witness is employed by a state, county, or local agency would be an illogical, as well as impractical, encroachment upon the authority of a constitutional officer." People v. Morley, 287 Ill. App. 3d 499, 505 (1997).
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