Court officer mourned
A large presence was missing from the McHenry County courthouse last week, and the void was about more than just Bob Nolan's physical stature.
Nolan, the courthouse's popular and respected chief security officer, died last week at his McHenry area home. He was 72.
A large man with an affable personality, Nolan worked as a security officer at the courthouse for 17 years, a career he began after running a bowling alley and liquor store in Wauconda.
Friends and co-workers last week remembered Nolan as someone who commanded respect around the courthouse, but won over admirers with his friendly, outgoing nature.
"He was just a good guy," said Tom Blake, a fellow courthouse security officer and friend for more than three decades. "He treated everyone he dealt with fairly."
Nolan was a star football player at the University of Miami in Florida, setting school receiving records in the 1950s. In 1956, he was drafted by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers and played professionally in Canada before settling in the Chicago area to pursue business interests.
In memory of Nolan, court security officers around the McHenry County courthouse are wearing black bands over their badges.
If at first you don't succeed: The defense for a prominent McHenry County business leader convicted earlier this year of trying to kill his wife is making new claims the jury that found him guilty was tainted.
In newly filed court documents, lawyers for Billy J. Cox allege that during the trial one of the jurors discussed facts of the case with an acquaintance, at one point telling the man she was certain of Cox's guilt.
The acquaintance, Wonder Lake resident Patrick Harder, contacted the defense with his claims in June, after reading newspaper accounts of other alleged juror misconduct, Cox attorney Jamie Wombacher says in an affidavit.
Harder told Wombacher, the affidavit states, that he met the female juror at a Woodstock tavern and quickly struck up a conversation about the case. At one point, Harder told Wombacher, the juror said "If you had seen the (crime scene) pictures, you would think he was guilty too."
The defense wants to use Harder's statement to show Cox, the 65-year-old founder of Richmond-based Exacto Inc., deserves a new trial.
Cox faces up to 60 years in prison when sentenced on his convictions for attempted murder and aggravated domestic battery stemming from a September 2004 attack on his wife at their Bull Valley estate.
Jurors in April found him guilty of the charges, which alleged he beat his wife unconscious with a bat-like object then locked her in a garage with two running vehicles, hoping she would succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning.
The latest filing is not the first time Cox's defense has accused a juror of misconduct. Shortly after the trial, the defense alleged one of the jurors had discussed the case with her husband, who happens to be a law enforcement officer, then discussed his opinions on the evidence with other jurors.
But in June McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon said there was no evidence to the juror's remarks, even if she made them, improperly influenced the entire jury's deliberations.