Top criminal prosecutor leaving McHenry Co. state's attorney's office

Nichole Owens, the top criminal prosecutor for the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office and a mainstay through the often turbulent administration of State's Attorney Louis Bianchi, is leaving the office after five years.

Owens confirmed Thursday her resignation effective at the end of the month to "continue my career as a prosecutor in another office." She declined to say where.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of McHenry County for five years," she said.

Owens declined to discuss her reasons for leaving, but said it was not as a result of two special prosecutor investigations - one recently completed, one still pending - into the office. Neither investigation was initiated because of allegations involving Owens.

"Another career opportunity became available and I'm pursuing it," she said.

A former prosecutor in Boone County, Owens began working for Bianchi the day he was first sworn into office in December 2004, starting first as an assistant state's attorney handling felony matters and working her was up to her current role as chief of the office's criminal division.

She spearheaded the prosecution of arguably the administration's biggest courtroom victory, the conviction of Bull Valley businessman Billy J. Cox on charges he tried to kill his wife in 2004. She also led the controversial prosecution of three former police officers charged with multiple felonies for a 2005 off-duty bar brawl that ultimately led to misdemeanor convictions for two of them and a recently overturned felony conviction for the third.

Owens is the second high-level criminal prosecutor to leave the office in recent months. Donna Kelly, a member of the office's special prosecution's unit, resigned in October to take a job in a private law firm and campaign for the Republican party nomination to an appellate court seat in next month's primary.

Bianchi was not immediately available Thursday morning to comment on Owens' departure or his plans for filling her position.