07 - Response to Emergency Petition for Redress before the McHenry County Grand Jury, filed by People of the State of Illinois.

STATE

OF

ILLINOIS

IN

THE

CIRCUIT COURT

OF

THE

22nd JUDICIAL CIRCUITMcHENRY COUNTYSHARON

ANN

MERONI,PATRIOT'S

HEART

MEDIA NETWORK, INC.vs.MCHENRY

COUNTY GRAND

JURY,FOREMAN

ANDGRAND

JURY MEMBERS

)))

) No.: 09

MR

399

)

))

II

NOTICE

OF FILING

To; Clerk

of

the CourtMcHenry County

Government

Center2200 N. Seminary AvenueWoodstock,

JL

60098

FII.ED

JAN

-72010

PLEASE

TAKE NOTICE

that

on

January 7,2010, I caused to

be

filed with the Circuit Clerk

of

McHenry County, State

of

Illinois, the attached People

of

the State

of

Illinois Response to Emergency Petition

f~

-~,

"""'"

m,

M,H"",

C~o/

""""

1:1_

1';,.

]E

~RA

. Assistant State's Attorney

CERTIFICATE

OF

SERVICE

The undersigned, a non-attorney, on oath state I served this Notice

of

Filing and People

of

the State

of

Illinois Response to Emergency Petition for Redress Before the McHenry County Grand Jury, by mailing acopy

to

Sharon

Ann

Meroni,

728

NWHwy., Fox

River

Grove,

IL

60021,

by

placing a

copy

of

the

same

in

the

U.S.

mail

depository located

at

2200 N. Seminary Ave., Woodstock,TIlinois,

on

or

before 4:00p.m.

on

this

~

of Jann .

~fled

and Sworn to before

me

this

V

rr==

day

of

January, 2010.

L;/;?.fa~mJ~

;t<.~L","",-t.

(POTARY

INTHECIRCUIT

COURT

OF

THE

22ND

JUDICIAL CIRCUITMCHENRY

COUNTY,

ILLINOIS

....

LED

SHARON

ANN

MERONI,)

J'AN

PATRIOT'S

HEART

MEDIA

NETWORK)

-121110

INC., et al. )

u:t'"_EM. """"

)

,_ENAY

c:rv.

em.

CU<,

Petitioner,vs.MCHENRY COUNTY GRAND JURY,FOREMAN

AND

GRAND JURYMEMBERS

)

))

)

Case No. 09

MR

399Defendant. )

----------------'---------------n

)

'<.

r.-

t.

J

PEOPLEOF THE

STATE

OF

ILLINOIS

RESPONSE

TO

EMERGENCYPETITION

FOR

REDRESS

BEFORE

THE

MCHENRY

COUNTY GRAND

JURY

NOW

COME the People

of

the State

of

Illinois, by and through their attorney,

LOUIS

A.

BIANCm,

State's Attorney for McHenry County, Illinois, by and through hisduly appointed assistant, JEFFREY BORA, and

in

response

to

Petitioner's Motion,respond as follows:The Petitioner asks to be appointed as a special prosecutor in order to commence

an

investigation in front

ofthe

grand jury. Pursuant to 55 ILCS 5/3-9008, a specialprosecutor

may

be appointed by a court "whenever

..

the State's attorney is interested inany cause or proceeding, civil

or

criminal, which it is or may

be

his duty to prosecute

or

defend, the court

in

whlch said cause

or

proceeding is pending

may

appoint somecompetent attorney to prosecute

or

defend such cause or proceeding."Generally, the State's Attorney is granted

the

authority "[t]o commence andprosecute

all

actions, suits, indictments and prosecutions, civil and criminal, in the circuitcourt for his county, in which

the

people

of

he State or county

may be

concerned."(emphasis added). 55 ILCS 5/3-9005. The Grand Jury is granted the authority

to

"subpoena and question any person against whom the

State

'8

Attorney

is seeking a bill

of

indictment, or any other person, and to obtain or examine any docwnents or transcriptsrelevant to the matter being prosecuted by the

State's Attorney.

725 ILCS

511

12-4

(emphasis added).In this matter, the Petitioner's motion

to

appoint her as a special prosecutor failsfor several reasons. First, the Petitioner has failed

to

make any showing that voter fraudhas occurred in the State

of

Illinois.

In

order for a Special Prosecutor to be appointed, thePetitioner would have to provide a factual basis for this Court to believe that a matterwould, or could be, pending before it.Second, the Petitioner has failed to make any showing that the State's Attorney

is

interested in this alleged action. For the purposes

of

the appointment

of

a specialprosecutor, the state's attorney must be interested as

"(1)

a private individual, or (2) aparty

to

the action."

Id.

Although the Petitioner claims that "this voter fraud potentiallyreaches into all elected offices in the County", the Petition fails to state one specific factto support that argwnent. Because the appointment

of

a special prosecutor infiinges upona state's attorney's exclusive powers, "the appointment is only warranted

if

based uponspecific factual allegations

of

'interest' within the meaning

of

the statutes allowing suchappointments."

McCall

v.

Devine,

334 Ill.App.3d

192,205,267

m.Dec. 602, 777 N.E.2d405 (2002). Furthermore, "speculation and suspicion are insufficient bases on which to"infiingeupon these exclusive powers.

Id.

"Rather, the petitioner must present sufficientevidence to support a conclusion that the putative personal conflict is so great that itwould influence the State's Attorney's discharge

of

his duties."

People

v.

Arrington, 297

Jll.App.3d

1,4,

231

IILDec. 658, 696 N.E.2d 1229 (1998). Sufficient evidence has notbeen presented in this case, and therefore the request should be denied.