McHenry Co. secrertary's prosecution could be pricey
The prosecution of former McHenry County State's Attorney secretary Amy L. Dalby, which ended Monday with her placed on court supervision for a year, likely will cost county taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
But for now at least, her legal defense against those claims will cost county residents nothing.
Judge Joseph Condon ruled this week that Dalby is not entitled to a publicly funded defense because, as her attorney argued, she was a county employee at the time of her offense.
"Last week you pleaded guilty," the judge told Dalby in court Monday. "I'll take you at your word that you are guilty of the offense, and I will not authorize the use of public funds for your defense."
Dalby, 24, of Woodstock, was sentenced to court supervision and a $400 fine Monday, five days after she admitted to a misdemeanor computer tampering charge for unlawfully removing more than 5,000 pages of computer files from the office of her former boss, State's Attorney Louis Bianchi.
The allegations came as part of an 18-month special investigator's probe into claims Dalby, Bianchi's onetime personal secretary, downloaded copies of the files and later turned them over to a political rival.
Condon's decision reaffirms an earlier court ruling denying Dalby's request he appoint her defense lawyer, Wesley Pribla, a special assistant state's attorney. That would have left taxpayers on the hook for her defense costs.
Pribla argued the appointment was mandated under state law, but Special Prosecutor David O'Connor said it would be "highly incongruous" that someone who admitted to tampering with county computer files would then receive public funds to pay her legal fees.
Condon agreed, stating that case law shows that a government employee who shares some blame for the criminal allegations against him or her is not entitled to a taxpayer-funded defense.
O'Connor, who says his investigation remains open, has yet to submit any bills for his work. When he does, the invoice will go first to the state's attorney's office and then likely through the county's normal process for paying bills, said Court Administrator Dan Wallis.
Judging by the length of the investigation - more than 18 months and counting - and the distance the Orland Park-based O'Connor has traveled to conduct it, many courthouse observers expect his bill to be in the high five figures or more.
Pribla, in the meantime, said he expects to appeal Condon's ruling, as well as pursue on Dalby's behalf a petition for a special prosecutor to investigate her former boss.
Dalby has claimed that she took the files to prove Bianchi required her to perform campaign-related duties during business hours. Bianchi denies the allegations, blaming them Monday on "overzealous political opponents."