CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge who sparked outrage by reversing a man’s rape conviction involving a 16-year-old girl has been removed from the bench after a judicial oversight body found he circumvented the law and engaged in misconduct.
The Illinois Courts Commission removed Adams County Judge Robert Adrian from the bench Friday after it held a three-day hearing in Chicago in November on a compliant filed against Adrian.
Its decision says Adrian “engaged in multiple instances of misconduct” and “abused his position of power to indulge his own sense of justice while circumventing the law.”
The commission could have issued a reprimand, censure or suspension without pay, but its decision said it had “ample grounds” for immediately removing Adrian from the bench in western Illinois’ Adams County.
SOOO many directions a discussion on this can go here in the forum…just action or not just by the alleged victim/review board? Judges afraid to mete out justice as they see it when it is less than the law on the books? Legislatures/Congresses meting out justice (which is all relative you know based upon the subjectivity of the crime) which is in violation of the separate powers of the judicial and legislature branches?
There has to be checks and balances, of course, of those who work the judicial system whatever their position, but would a defendant be able to do this same recourse in the same way to get a better result in the end for themself (where they usually go through an appellate court path)?
Reading more about this situation would be interesting to find out the considerations, etc since it was not a recall vote from the bench like Persky got in CA, but flat out peer review of their conduct.
Has anyone ever heard of a case of a judge removed from the bench for something that wasn’t showing mercy to a man accused of date rape? It’s amusing that the party that leads this effort is also the party the world is counting on to reform America’s justice system (and, sadly, the party us PFRs are depending on for a modicum of registry reform).
The problem is rarely the jail sentencing but what comes after.
Another instance of where a mere accusation is sufficient proof in sex crime prosecutions, and judges who find otherwise are subject to discipline.
Also, am I the only one who thinks that this article never would have been written if the crime in question were, say, an armed robbery instead of a sex offense?
Had this happened pre-social media, this judge would’ve most likely kept his job and nobody would’ve questioned the ruling. Unfortunately – and predictably – the Internet is an outrage echo chamber that has become a toxic court of public opinion where “doing the right thing” is entirely based upon knee-jerk emotional pleas.