Des Plaines cop hearing will be closed

The Des Plaines Police and Fire Commission will bar the public and press from a portion of disciplinary hearings for police Sgt. Matthew Hicks later this month.

Hicks is fighting to save his job after being charged in McHenry County last year on allegations he struck his wife.

At a recent Des Plaines hearing, Hicks’ attorney argued there will be sensitive testimony involving the medical condition of their primary witness, Hicks’ wife, which led the three-member panel to agree to conduct that portion of the hearing behind closed doors. The commission, at the city’s request, also agreed to limit the testimony of a medical expert at the future hearing.

“We had argued that a psychiatrist testifying as an expert can’t comment on the credibility of witnesses and the board agreed that that’s beyond what an expert should be testifying to,” said Everette Hill, the city’s attorney.

Hicks’ attorney, Joseph Mazzone, said Wednesday he plans to refile a motion just before the hearing begins March 31 to have the entire proceedings closed.

“A lot of portions and a lot of different witnesses’ testimony will be dealing with personal issues,” Mazzone said.

Some of that confidential information will come from family members, ex-spouses and a medical doctor, he said.

It is yet unclear whether the commission will consider the request again after having quashed Mazzone’s earlier motion to close the hearing.

“I don’t know that they’ve made up their minds completely on that,” Hill said. “Since it’s a personnel matter, they have the right to close the whole thing. Up to this point they have said if there’s going to be medical testimony that portion they are going to close.”

Hill said the city has served a subpoena on Hicks’ wife and intends to call her to testify.

“We do not intend to get into her medical history,” he added. “We think it’s irrelevant. So I assume that will be in open session, but that’s not my call to make.”

Hicks, an 18-year Des Plaines police department veteran, faces four counts of domestic battery accusing him of striking his wife in their Huntley home on April 18 and grabbing her by the hair.

The 46-year-old police officer also faces two counts of battery and a single count of interfering with the reporting of domestic violence stemming from the same altercation. All the charges are misdemeanors, punishable by a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Hicks has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled for a jury trial April 4 before McHenry County Judge Gordon Graham.

The Des Plaines disciplinary hearing will proceed irrespective of what happens with the criminal case. It is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 31 and April 1 in the Des Plaines City Council chambers, 1420 Miner St.

Des Plaines police levied seven internal conduct charges against Hicks: inability to act as a police officer; untruthfulness; insubordination; theft and official misconduct; domestic battery and official misconduct; interfering with the reporting of domestic violence; and conduct unbecoming.

The commission could fire Hicks, who under Illinois law would be barred from possessing a firearm if convicted of domestic battery. After his arrest, Des Plaines police suspended Hicks with pay. In August, the commission suspended him without pay.