Judge slaps Cumbee attorney with $1,000 fine

A judge leveled a $1,000 sanction Thursday against the lawyer for convicted murderer John Cumbee, ruling that he had made baseless allegations against the McHenry County State's Attorney's office while trying to win his client a new trial.

Judge Sharon Prather ruled that the allegations were "not well-grounded in fact" and amounted to "harassment" aimed at getting the county prosecutors office to comply with the defense lawyer's demands.

Woodstock-based attorney Dan Mengeling said he might appeal the fine, but otherwise declined to comment.

McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi, whose office sought the sanction, said the $1,000 Mengeling now owes will go into the county's general fund, not unlike a fine for a traffic or criminal offense.

"He was attacking the integrity, character and reputation of prosecutors who worked for the prior (state's attorney) administration, and we felt compelled to defend them," Bianchi said. "To attack a prosecutor without any basis is reprehensible and reckless."

In court documents last year seeking a third trial for Cumbee, a former Fox Lake police officer, Mengeling accused authorities of failing to disclose that they damaged evidence and claimed prosecutors may have suborned perjury.

The allegations did little to impress Prather, who in October rejected Cumbee's request for another trial.

Cumbee, 49, is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted him for the second time in 2003 for the 1992 slaying of his former girlfriend, Kathleen Twarowksi. Authorities said Cumbee beat the 21-year-old Oakton Community College student to death with a fire poker at his Spring Grove home.