Lake Co. judge's BAC allowed in DUI trial

A judge ruled Monday the results of a blood-alcohol test taken after Lake County Circuit Judge David Hall's arrest for DUI last year can be used against him in a trial.

Although he ruled against a defense motion to bar the results, Kane County Circuit Judge F. Keith Brown said he would review the matter again just before the scheduled start of Hall's Dec. 14 trial.

Hall, 56, was arrested April 26, 2008 by Vernon Hills police and charged with DUI and resisting arrest after police say he refused to get out of his car on an officer's command.

Police pepper-sprayed Hall while he was still inside the car, and he was later taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after complaining of an irregular heartbeat.

It was there that three vials of blood were taken from Hall and sent to a state police crime lab for testing 19 days following the arrest.

Brown has barred parties to the case from revealing the blood alcohol content results of that test, although Assistant Attorney General William Elward said at a hearing last year that Hall's BAC was greater than .1 percent.

In Illinois, a driver is legally drunk if the blood alcohol content is .08 percent or higher.

Defense attorneys Jason Mercure and Douglas Zeit told Brown the blood test results should not be admitted against their client because proper procedures were not followed in the taking, storing and testing of the blood.

They argued a police officer was not present when the blood was drawn, the blood was not kept in state police-approved vials and the blood was not tested at a lab in the hospital where it was drawn.

But Elward countered the defense had not produced any evidence that procedures were violated in the handling and testing of the blood.

Brown agreed Monday, but said he would allow the defense to raise its challenge again at a hearing just before the start of the trial.

Hall was serving as chief judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit when he was arrested, but resigned that post after he was charged, and has resumed normal judge duties.

If convicted of DUI, he faces up to one year in jail and a $25,000 fine, but first-time offenders are normally placed on court supervision if they are found guilty.