Judge will not rule on special prosecutor for Operation Midway Blitz investigations Monday
A Cook County judge will not rule on a controversial petition calling for a special prosecutor to be assigned to investigations related to Operation Midway Blitz Monday, she said.
At a status hearing at 9:30 a.m., Cook County Judge Erica Reddick said she will not rule yet, giving lawyers behind the request more time to reply to a court filing on Friday from the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
Reddick warned the petitioners to be brief and speedy in their response, saying point blank, "time is of the essence."
Reddick said she expects to announce her decision at the next hearing on May 21.
More than 200 politicians, community activists, and religious leaders want a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of misconduct by federal agents during the Trump administration's crackdown last fall.
The Cook County State's Attorney's Office said the complaints in this case have "no basis in reality," and that the whole thing is a drain on judicial resources. But the 244 people who signed the initial court filing are adamant that current prosecutors are failing Chicagoans. They don't believe State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has properly investigated actions by federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz.
No charges have been brought against immigration officers who killed an undocumented father in Franklin Park. Illinois State Police recently announced they had launched an investigation into Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez's death.
Cook County prosecutors did not go after the agents involved in the shooting of Marimar Martinez either.
"It has been nine months since the blitz started. Our state's attorney has done nothing to help our communities," said Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vasquez (D-8th District).
People who signed the petition seeking a special prosecutor said O'Neill Burke works too closely with federal agencies to bring cases against them.
"Petitioners have to come up with something that, somehow, she has a conflict of interest that makes it impossible to do her job, legally or factually," said Irv Miller, CBS News Chicago legal analyst. "And frankly, from what occurred in the hearing a week or so ago, they presented nothing to the judge, and I think the judge understood that they presented nothing."
O'Neill Burke has denied any conflict of interest. In a court filing objecting to the petition for special prosecutor, her team wrote, "Illinois law simply does not permit prosecutors to initiate criminal investigations and bring prosecutions because the general public and elected officials would like them to."
The objection went on to say, "Petitioners fail to explain how a special prosecutor will withstand the same pressure and intimidation of the federal government...An independent special prosecutor would be no more shielded from retaliation than the state's attorney."
The court filing goes on to say that O'Neill Burke can't be the one to investigate federal agents; that's the responsibility of law enforcement, which needs to follow a legal process and present the case to her.
"If a federal law enforcement agent commits a crime, my office will not hesitate to act in accordance with state law," said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Yvette Loizon.
Miller said he doesn't expect the judge to appoint a special prosecutor.
"You have a very experienced judge who happens to be the chief judge of the criminal division of the Circuit Court of Cook County making the decision, and I think she knows that the voters elected Eileen O'Neill Burke to be the state's attorney and she's not going to, you know, say, sorry, I don't agree with you," Miller said.
Gov. JB Pritzker's accountability commission, which just wrapped up a months-long investigation into Operation Midway Blitz, supports the calls for a special prosecutor.