Ex-secretary's defense: I had to take files to expose crimes
A former McHenry County State's Attorney secretary indicted on charges she unlawfully removed computer files from the office will claim her actions were necessary to expose a more serious crime, her attorney said Wednesday.
The defense for Amy Dalby, the onetime personal secretary to State's Attorney Louis Bianchi, filed a formal motion in court stating she will pursue a necessity defense to a seven-count indictment brought against her late last month by a special grand jury.
Under state law, a necessity defense justifies conduct that normally would be criminal if the accused believes it was necessary to avoid more serious public or private injury.
In Dalby's case, defense lawyer Wesley Pribla said, the more serious harm was campaign-related work being done in the state's attorney's office.
"It was done for a higher cause," Pribla said of his client's actions. "(It was to expose) the misuse of public property by a public employee for political purposes."
Bianchi has denied he campaigned out of the state's attorney's office.
Dalby, a 24-year-old student at Northern Illinois University, is charged with theft and multiple counts of computer fraud, official misconduct and computer tampering for copying hundreds of files in 2006 from her computer at the state's attorney's office onto a portable storage drive.
Six of the seven charges are felonies, the most serious punishable by a maximum of two to five years in prison or probation.
In an interview with the Daily Herald, Dalby said several of those files prove she was doing political work on Bianchi's behalf while on county time. She said she copied the files, and took them with her when she left the office in 2006, to protect herself should anyone accuse of her doing anything illegal.
Dalby was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Wednesday morning, but that was postponed when her attorney asked for the case to be removed from Judge Sharon Prather's courtroom. The request was granted, and the case is now before Judge Joseph Condon.
Pribla declined to detail the reasons for the request, other than to say it was what Dalby wanted.
The motions for a new judge and necessity defense were among a flurry of filings by Pribla Wednesday. He also filed court documents asking a court enter an order barring anyone from tampering with several computers within the state's attorney's office, and another one to have himself appointed as a special assistant State's Attorney to defend Dalby.
If the latter is granted, Dalby's defense could be paid for by McHenry County taxpayers.
Special Prosecutor David O'Connor said he had not had time yet to read the newly filed motions, but "we will respond appropriately to them."
Pribla also filed early notice of who he might call to testify if Dalby's case goes to trial. Among the witnesses are Bianchi, the chiefs of both his criminal and civil divisions, his office manager and McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz.
Dalby, who is free on bond, is scheduled to return to court April 1 for arraignment.