Both sides protest judge's ruling

A McHenry County judge is overstepping her legal authority by refusing a Lake County man's guilty plea to charges he killed Lakemoor businessman Raul Briseno in 2001, prosecutors and defense lawyers say in separate court filings.

The unusual filings come after Judge Sharon Prather last week rejected for the fourth time lawyers' efforts to put through a plea bargain for Kenneth E. Smith on second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery charges.

Smith, 31, wants the deal because it means prosecutors would drop a first-degree murder charge that, if he's convicted, could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

Instead, under the deal, he would receive a 35-year prison sentence that, with time already served and likely credit for good behavior behind bars, could see him go free in about 11½ years.

That's not long enough for Prather, according to recently filed court documents. Instead, the filings state, Prather told prosecutors and defense attorneys that Smith needs to spend at least 20 years in prison because of the seriousness of his crimes.

But attorneys who brokered the plea deal say Prather does not have the power to reject it. Although judges typically have some discretion over plea bargains, in this case Smith would be accepting the maximum sentence for the charges to which he is admitting guilt.

"It would serve no sound judicial purpose, as required for the county's discretion here, to refuse to accept a guilty plea to the maximum sentence for all pending charges," defense attorney Christopher Parente said in documents filed Monday.

By refusing the deal, Parenti states, Prather is intruding on the authority of the McHenry County State's Attorney's office to determine how to charge a suspect and strike a plea bargain.

In similar documents filed by prosecutors Friday, Nichole Owens, criminal division chief for the state's attorney, says Prather is acting outside her powers by blocking the plea deal.

"The rejection of a guilty plea, or fully negotiated plea agreement, that appears arbitrary or unreasonable may amount to an abuse of discretion," she states.

Prather is not the only figure unhappy with the deal. Family members of Briseno have publicly complained about the proposed plea, saying they consider it an insult to their loved one's memory.