DuPage Co. lawyer who insisted on equal justice for poor moves on

Growing up in a house with parents who watched cop dramas and legal thrillers, Jacqueline Lacy knew at an early age she wanted to be either a police officer or lawyer.

When a college internship coordinator told her she'd never make it as the latter, Lacy was inspired to prove him wrong. She went on to law school and pursued a career that, despite her early aspirations, often casts her in the role of a cop's nemesis - the public defender.

DuPage County's poorest criminal defendants will lose one of their fiercest advocates today as the feisty senior assistant public defender known for her dogged courtroom style calls it quits. Judges in Illinois' Fifth Judicial Circuit recently named the 33-year-old Lacy as the head public defender in Vermilion County, where she'll lead a staff of five assistants who handle 3,000 cases a year.

Lacy has devoted her career to poking at the practices of prosecutors and police - questioning and grilling them in court with unapologetic gusto.

"It's my job to zealously represent my clients. So, it is kind of a compliment not to be liked by the other side of the aisle," said Lacy, with a slight grin, well aware of her pain-in-the butt reputation with prosecutors. "Our whole role as public defenders is to make sure the state's attorneys and police are doing their job because you're not just defending your client, you're defending the Constitution.

"If those rights aren't applied equally to everyone, then none of us gets a fair defense."

The middle child of three sisters, Lacy said she grew up a tomboy who preferred playing "lawyer" rather than with dolls. The Montgomery native received a bachelor's degree in law enforcement from Western Illinois University in 1998. In college, she interned in the Kendall County state's attorneys office but realized the sometimes thankless and less-than-stellar paying job of public defender was more her calling.

It was about then, Lacy recalls, a college internship coordinator discouraged her from becoming a lawyer. Another professor, Gayle Carper, prodded Lacy to stick with it. She did and, in 2002, Lacy became the first member of her family to receive a law degree.

She interned at the DuPage County public defender's office while attending John Marshall Law School and was hired in 2003 after getting her license. But for an 18-month hiatus in private practice, Lacy worked her way up to supervising senior assistant in the felony division.

"There's no one else in this office quite like Jacqueline," DuPage Public Defender Jeffrey York said. "She has earned a stellar reputation as a tough, respected trial attorney. She gives her all on all of her cases."

Added DuPage Associate Judge Robert Miller, Lacy's former boss: "She's one of the most talented attorneys I've had the privilege to work with. I promoted her to the felony division even though there were others with more seniority. She is smart, aggressive and understanding."

Lacy won her share of "not guilty" verdicts in law-and-order DuPage County. Her first jury trial was defending a one-armed Wheaton man with mental issues who is well known in local legal circles because of his penchant for public masturbation. She lost the first one, but won acquittals in his later trials after arguing, for example, that he was reaching for a cigarette.

More recently, Lacy and trial partner Jaime Escuder convinced a six-member jury to acquit a man facing a life prison term on child molestation charges after they poked holes in the reliability of the prosecution's DNA evidence.

"She's really good - probably the best I've ever seen - at picking a jury," DuPage Circuit Judge Blanche Hill Fawell said. "She can find that one juror with reasonable doubt."

"She is very good at not only convincing them there was reasonable doubt, but that her client was actually innocent," added John Casey, her former supervisor and now a private Wheaton attorney who Lacy describes as a professional role model.

After the high-profile acquittal, defense attorneys began requesting smaller juries. Prosecutors objected. In a precedent-setting decision, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in October 2009 that a criminal defendant has the right to a jury with fewer than 12 people if the judge allows it.

Lacy also was on the defense team that helped save the life of a Clarendon Hills father facing possible execution for his 8-year-old daughter's murder. After considering mitigating evidence of the man's mental illness, prosecutors agreed to a plea deal with a 100-year prison term.

"A lot of people - our clients - all they want is someone just to fight for them," Lacy said. "I've had so many clients, at the end of the day, who are so thankful and just wanted someone to stand up for them. I think there is a lot of reward in doing what we do as public defenders to help people and protect their rights."