Former Coroner Rudd's lawyers dismissed over possible conflict of interest

A Lake County judge determined Thursday that a law firm assisting defense attorneys with the perjury case against former Coroner Thomas Rudd should be dismissed due to a possible conflict of interest, attorneys said.

Judge Victoria Rossetti dismissed the law firm of Odelson and Sterk from Rudd's defense team because attorney Burt Odelson served as the lawyer that successfully kept Rudd off the election ballot when his nomination petitions were challenged in 2016.

Attorney Jed Stone said, while the decision was a setback, he will forge ahead without a co-counsel.

"I feel quite capable of representing Dr. Rudd by myself," he said. "While Dr. Rudd does have a constitutional right to counsel of his choice, when we go to court on Dr. Rudd's case, I can capably handle anything the attorneys throw at him."

Rossetti also delayed Rudd's trial until May 21, Stone said.

Rudd, 70, of Lake Forest, faces five counts of perjury alleging he made false statements on nominating petitions filed prior to his unsuccessful 2016 re-election bid.

Rudd has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted, though probation also is possible. Rudd remains free on $150,000 bail.

Authorities say Rudd falsely swore under oath that he was present when voters signed his nominating petitions. Prosecutors allege 15 to 20 signatures on the petitions that Rudd signed turned out to be false, and one signature is from a person who had been dead more than a decade.

Rudd initially filed in November 2015 to run as a Democrat in the March 2016 primary. He dropped out of the race and withdrew his nominating papers. Those petitions were challenged for their authenticity.

In June 2016, Rudd again filed election petitions to run as an Independent in the November general election. Those petitions were also challenged on claims Rudd could not run as an Independent in the same election cycle in which he first filed to run as a Democrat.

Odelson was the attorney who argued against Rudd in court during the June case. Rudd lost that argument in court, and was forced to run as a write-in.

Authorities filed perjury charges against Rudd in February, and Rudd hired Stone and Odelson to represent him.

Stone repeated earlier claims that the charges against Rudd are "political payback" for controversial statements Rudd made while serving as coroner from 2012 to 2016.

Rudd upset many in the law enforcement community when he publicly questioned whether Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was murdered in the line of duty in 2015. Authorities later said Gliniewicz killed himself and made it appear as if he were murdered.

Rudd also took to television to cast doubt on the murder conviction of Melissa Calusinski in the 2009 death of a 16-month-old boy at a Lincolnshire day care center. While serving as coroner, Rudd changed the boy's official cause of death from homicide to undetermined and was critical of autopsy results that linked Calusinski to the boy's death.

The appellate court prosecutor's office was appointed in the case to avoid possible conflict of interest with the Lake County state's attorney's office, officials said.