Felony cases down in '08 in Kane Co.

The Kane County State's Attorney authorized charges in 3,611 felony cases in 2008, a 6 percent decrease from 2007. However, it tried 144 felony cases in 2008, a 13 percent increase from 2007.

That's the Page 1 news in the Kane County state's attorney's office annual report for 2008, which was released this week.

"More trials means less plea bargaining," according to State's Attorney John Barsanti.

The report details the workload, significant achievements and spending of the office's four major divisions: criminal, civil, child advocacy and financial/human resources.

The number of felony cases and the number of trials aren't related to each other, because the cases that went to trial in 2008 were mostly filed in 2006 and 2007.

No explanation was given in the report for the drop in charges brought, but Barsanti theorized it might be due to prosecutions of Aurora gang members. In 2007, the state's attorney's office, in cooperation with the FBI and Aurora police, charged 31 members of one gang with 22 "cold case" murders dating from 1989 to 2005. Also, the office worked with the U.S. Attorney's office to prosecute eight members of another gang in federal court on racketeering and drug conspiracy charges. Seven were convicted.

In all, the conviction rate stayed the same, at 96 percent, in 2008 compared to 2007.

As in years past, Aurora and Elgin provided the most work for the prosecutors, accounting for 53 percent of the felony cases. The top five charges remained the same: unlawful possession of a controlled substance, retail theft, aggravated battery, obstruction of justice and delivery or possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver. They accounted for 37 percent of the cases charged.

Requests for help from government officials dealing with residents' questions and challenges about property taxes were up for the civil division, and are expected to climb in 2009, due to the economic downturn.