Bianchi seeks to toss charges against him

Embattled McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi had his final court hearing Wednesday before his March 21 corruption and misconduct trial, and his attorney again pushed to have the charges dropped.

Bianchi also pleaded not guilty to a new set of charges that he improperly used his office to reduce penalties or eliminate charges for family members and those politically connected to him. A trial date for those charges was set for June 27, and his defense attorney said Bianchi will opt for a bench trial instead of a jury trial.

Bianchi and his personal secretary, Joyce Synek, were indicted last September on charges they used county resources to further Bianchi’s political campaign.

They have pleaded not guilty and will be tried before Winnebago County Judge Joseph McGraw instead of a jury.

Defense attorney Terry Elk argued that the indictment should be dismissed.

Ekl argued that special prosecutors Thomas McQueen and Henry Tonigan offered their own opinions and thus testimony to a special grand jury instead of relying solely on testimony from witnesses under oath.

“A first-year law student would have known better than to engage in this type of conduct by these two prosecutors,” Ekl argued. “This grand jury had absolutely no idea of conspiracy law and they had absolutely no idea what they were indicting these defendants for.”

McQueen said the grand jury was able to draw inferences from all the evidence presented.

“There rarely is in a conspiracy case an expressed agreement on the record,” he said. “This case from Day 1 and today and the 21st of March is and will be about the use of county time and equipment to create the re-election campaign, as successful as it was, of Louis Bianchi.”

Judge McGraw said he would issue a written opinion “promptly.”

McQueen said he plans to call eight to 10 witnesses during the trial, which is expected to take a little over a week and will he held in Woodstock.

If convicted, Bianchi and Synek face up to five years in prison, but probation also is an option.