Third judge is shuffled out of child porn case

The third judge to be assigned to hear the child pornography distribution case against former Green Oaks mayor Thomas Adams held his first hearing in the case Wednesday.

It was also his last hearing in the case.

Kane County Associate Judge Allen Anderson, who picked up the case when a fellow Kane County judge was appointed to the federal bench, was taken out by a defense motion.

Kane County judges became involved in the case last year after County Board member Robert Sabonjian left a phone message with his comments on the case for Lake County Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti.

That caused all Lake County judges to disqualify themselves from the case, and Judge Philip DiMarzio was assigned by the Supreme Court.

DiMarzio was appointed a federal immigration judge in February, and Anderson was the next to get the call from the Supreme Court to preside over Adams' case.

But defense attorney Thomas Briscoe filed a motion for substitution of judges within moments of Anderson taking the bench on Wednesday.

Such motions are automatically granted if filed within 10 days of a judge first hearing the case in court. Defense attorneys are not required to give a reason for the move.

The matter now goes back to the Supreme Court for the assignment of the fourth judge to hear the case.

Adams, who was arrested in July 2006 after police said he e-mailed child pornography to an undercover officer in Florida, was set to go on trial April 21.

But Anderson told the parties to return to court again on May 21 for a report on the naming of a new judge.