Charge dropped against man accused of threatening judges' life

Prosecutors dropped their case against a 28-year-old man accused of threatening the life of a Lake County judge after one of the judge's McHenry County counterparts threw out the state's only evidence Thursday.

Adam Rotheimer, of the 4400 block of Riverdale in McHenry, left the McHenry County courthouse out from under a felony charge of threatening a public official after Judge Joseph Condon declared the alleged threat was a privileged communication with a mental health professional and, therefore, not admissible at trial.

"The statements that have been suppressed are the only evidence that the state would have been able to present at trial," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Michael Combs said moments later while dismissing the case.

According to authorities and court documents, Rotheimer was receiving treatment at a Woodstock mental health facility in early March when a clinical social worker overheard him talking about Lake County Associate Judge Brian Hughes, stating he was going to get an AK-47 and "kill them all."

Hughes had sentenced Rotheimer in February to court supervision after the McHenry man pleaded guilty to driving under the influence.

The social worker contacted Lake County Sheriff's police about the statement, according to court filings, but told a detective he did not consider Rotheimer a threat or believe he would harm the judge.

Rotheimer's attorney, Jeffrey Urdangen, said his client never should have been charged in the first place.

"Any reasonable person could understand that these were not threats," he said. "Had we gone to trial in this case, we're very confident a jury would have agreed."

Urdangen also praised McHenry County prosecutors for quickly dismissing the case after Condon's decision to toss out the statements.

"Both the judge and prosecutor saw this case for what it was," he said. "He was an honest and honorable prosecutor who saw that this case should never have been indicted."