As Cook County Attorney, I have requested approval in my 2024 budget to add an attorney to our staff of four, the first expansion in attorney office staff since general paralegal functions were added to make the Crime Victim-Witness Coordinator position full-time in approximately 2011. The last time attorney functions in our office were expanded was in 2002 when the Assistant County Attorney position went from part-time to full-time. While workloads have been expanding for our Office over the past several years, attorneys and staff were pushed to capacity in the past twelve months with a dramatic increase in the amount of serious criminal cases that were taken to jury trial.

From September 2022 to August 2023, one or both prosecutors in the Cook County Attorney's office were in jury trials during 7 out of the last 12 months. This is a dramatic increase in jury trial work for the office, which usually will try by jury just one to three cases each year. Attorneys in this office handle hundreds of court hearings and a few court trials a year, but jury trials are by far the greatest expense to us in hours, dollars, and resources; they constitute some of the most important work we do. Attorneys regularly work nights and weekends, 10-12 hour days, while in jury trial and in the days and weeks leading up to important trials, while staff are busy scheduling witness prep meetings and testimony, arranging for transportation and lodging for out-of-county witnesses, preparing and disclosing exhibits, and filing pre-trial and trial-related pleadings corresponding to the arguments made in court. While this is happening, all the rest of the work the office does, both in criminal prosecution and in advising county staff and officials, must still move forward somehow.

Each defendant charged with a crime that could involve incarceration has the right to a jury trial, but the percentage of criminal cases that go to trial is typically very low. The vast majority of cases in our criminal justice system end with a negotiated guilty plea, not trial. More serious cases are more likely to go to trial because the stakes for the defendant are typically higher than in misdemeanor cases. The recent increase in jury trials for the Cook County Attorney's Office does not reflect any recent increase in criminal caseload. The caseload of Major Criminal Cases filed in our office has stayed fairly even over the past five years. According to Judicial Branch statistics, we have averaged about 60 "Major Criminal" cases per year, a category that includes all felony and gross misdemeanor charges and excludes most misdemeanors. Out of the seven cases that went to trial in the twelve months preceding this article, six were filed in 2021, and all involved felony charges. 

Cases brought to trial included: 

• Kyle Bruneau of Grand Portage, convicted in October 2022 of Depriving Another of Custodial Rights.
• Robert West of South Range, Wisconsin, convicted in February 2023 after a 3-week trial of Accomplice to Felony Murder.
• Bradley Wilson, Jr. of Grand Marais, convicted in March 2023 of Pattern of Stalking and Harassment.
• Dan Beleane of Hovland, convicted in April 2023 of Child Neglect (knowingly permitting physical abuse), mistrial (hung jury) on remaining counts.
• Anthony Poyirier of Grand Portage, convicted in April 2023 of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (two counts).
• Adult Male of Grand Marais, acquitted in April 2023 of First and Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.
• Jacob Johnson of Superior, Wisconsin, convicted in August 2023 after a 3-week trial of Second Degree Murder.

The cases tried by a jury recently included two murder cases related to the death of Richard Balsimo Jr. with the assistance of the State Attorney General's Office (Assistant Attorney General Dan Vlieger). There were five jury trials in which the defendant was charged with at least one count of criminal sexual conduct, and the defendant was convicted of at least one sex offense in two out of five tried cases. All victims of the charged criminal sexual conduct offenses were female, and five of seven victims who testified in those trials were children when the charged conduct occurred (aged 3-4, 12, 12, 12, and 16-17). Of the cases we tried involving sex crimes against children, juries convicted the defendant of the charged sex offense in 1 out of 3 cases.

Over a six-month period from October 2022 to April 2023, hundreds of Cook County residents were summoned to jury duty to go through the jury selection process so these trials could occur. Many were called in on multiple days for multiple trials. This took them away from work duties and pay, prevented them from fulfilling family responsibilities, and kept them from enjoying vacations and events they planned for themselves and their loved ones. Jurors are paid just $20 a day, plus mileage. Those who were self-employed likely took a substantial financial loss depending on their service. Those who were selected for juries served in trials that took them away from their normal routines for weeks at a time, and they were asked to process and consider some very difficult and disturbing facts as part of their role as jurors, then make extremely difficult decisions. We understand that our system requires the sacrifice not just of attorneys and staff, but of our community members who didn't ask to be part of the system. We thank all the jurors and potential jurors who went through the process with us.

County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County – Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.