Lauzen: How much time will Kane prosecutors spend on McDonald case?
Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen Thursday asked the state's attorney's office to provide an estimate of how much time it expects to spend prosecuting the Laquan McDonald murder case for Cook County.
Especially since, just a few weeks before accepting the task, Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon asked for more money to hire more employees for his office in 2017.
"I'm trying to reconcile the two," Lauzen said. He said county board members were given the impression in July that McMahon's office is "on the edge as far as their work" with current funding and staffing. "And within two to three weeks, we have a huge burden (added)."
Lauzen asked the questions at a county board judicial and public safety committee meeting. McMahon did not attend.
First Assistant State's Attorney Jody Gleason - one of three Kane prosecutors McMahon will use on the McDonald case - told the committee it was difficult to estimate staff hours. "Any case that we get ready for a trial on a murder is going to take a lot of time," she said.
"Having the four senior, highly competent prosecutors (involved), I would think that that is a real drain versus what the normal course of what we do every day," Lauzen said.
Gleason said the McDonald case will be done in addition to the lawyers' normal work.
"It will be extra work for us. I'll be spending a lot more time in the office," she said.
Besides Gleason, McMahon will use Kane County assistant state's attorneys Joe Cullen and Dan Weiler, and Winnebago County First Assistant State's Attorney Marilyn Hite.
They will prosecute Jason Van Dyke, a white Chicago police officer charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of McDonald, a black teenager, while responding to a call about a person carrying a knife.
Lauzen asked if Cook County would reimburse Kane County for the prosecutors' time. Gleason said under state law, Cook has to pay only for expenses, not salaries.
Lauzen also asked how many times Kane County has asked for a special prosecutor for a case, and whether a state's attorney can refuse a request.
Chief Judge Susan Clancy Boles said Kane County has used one since she took office in December.
And state's attorneys are free to refuse, she said.
She said state law on special prosecutors was changed after another county spent more than $500,000 hiring a private attorney to prosecute a case. The change allows a court to first ask other state's attorneys, the office of the state appellate prosecutor or the state attorney general to step in as special prosecutor.