Keller's defense testimony in rape case draws GOP ire
The head of the Lake County Republican Party said Thursday that Coroner Richard Keller "compromised the integrity of his office" by testifying for the defense in a child molestation case.
Keller, a Democrat, responded that he had done nothing wrong and would be willing to serve as an expert witness for defense attorneys in the future.
The flap is centered on the case against Montel Branch, 32, of Zion, who went on trial for predatory sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in July.
Keller said he was asked by Assistant Public Defender Martin Shaffer to review a report of a medical examination of the victim and write a report detailing his opinion.
Shaffer agreed to pay him $100 per hour for his time, Keller said, and he collected $150 for reviewing the exam report, writing his own report and testifying on July 30.
Keller, who has been a physician for almost 30 years, said Shaffer came to him because he has a great deal of experience in examining child sex assault victims.
"I have done more than 300 of them over the years, more than anyone else in this area," Keller said. "I have done volunteer work for the Medical Exam Clinic for Child Advocacy for several years."
The clinic is run by the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center, an arm of the state's attorney's office that presented Keller with the 2005 Fred L. Foreman Criminal Justice Award for his work with the clinic.
Keller said he reviewed the report of the emergency room doctor and some photographs taken during the exam, then received a subpoena from Shaffer to testify on July 30.
"I basically said that the exam done on the victim was deficient and, because of that, the doctor's diagnosis (that the girl had been sexually assaulted) was erroneous," Keller said. "I was not on the witness stand all that long."
The jury disagreed with Keller and found Branch guilty the following day. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison on Sept. 19.
"The coroner is the second-highest ranking law enforcement officer in the county and he should not be testifying for child molesters," Venturi said. "By doing so, he compromised the integrity of his office, and the people of Lake County deserve better."
Keller said he did not testify at the trial as coroner, but as a physician with experience in such examinations and would entertain similar requests in the future.
Venturi rejected Keller's defense of the move.
"The coroner is a Lake County employee 24/7/365," he said. "It is not a situation where you can say I am going to be the coroner at 1 p.m., then at 1:30 I am going to be a doctor in private practice."
Duane Northrup is the coroner of Champaign County and the first vice president of the Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Association, a group that also claims Keller as a member.
Northrup said he was unaware of any other situation where a sitting coroner had been called as an expert witness for either side of a criminal case, but at the same time did not feel that Keller's participation in the Branch case was out of line.
"As long as his testimony did not have anything to do with his job as coroner, I do not have a problem with it," Northrup said. "If it was clear that he was not there as the coroner, but was there as a licensed physician with credentials in this field, I think it would be all right."
Northrup likened Keller's situation to a recent experience of his own, when he was called as a potential juror in a criminal case.
"Both sides of the case knew that I was the coroner and they both accepted that I was not there as the coroner but as a citizen of Champaign County," he said. "I said that I could be fair to both sides, even though I am a county official and law enforcement officer and both sides accepted me onto the jury."
Keller was elected coroner in 2004. He faces Republican Michael Oster in the Nov. 4 election.
Shaffer declined to comment about his decision to hire Keller, as did public defender Joy Gossman.
"I am simply not going to politicize the operation of the public defender's office," she said.