Bianchi accuser wants special prosecutor held in contempt

In another unexpected twist to a case that has been full of them, former McHenry County State's Attorney secretary Amy Dalby asked a judge Friday to issue a criminal contempt finding against the special prosecutor who charged her with unlawfully removing computer files from the office.

The three-page written request asks that special prosecutor David O'Connor be fined or imprisoned for committing a "willful and contumacious" violation of Illinois Supreme Court rules.

The violation, the petition claims, was releasing secret grand jury minutes from his investigation of Dalby to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, an agency that investigates and punishes lawyers for misconduct.

The agency received the minutes as part of complaint O'Connor filed against two lawyers linked to his investigation.

"I believe there may have been misconduct by attorneys and I have an ethical obligation to notify the ARDC of that," O'Connor said Friday, declining to identify the attorneys named in the complaint.

Dalby attorney Wesley Pribla also declined to identify the lawyers, but said they are not members of the state's attorney's office.

Pribla contends O'Connor's actions violate Supreme Court rules, as well as orders from a McHenry County judge, that "specifically prohibit disclosure of grand jury minutes."

"I think it was just vindictive," he added. "This is a direct insult to the dignity of the court."

O'Connor disputes Pribla's claims, saying he received permission to send the grand jury minutes in a June 1 order by McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon. The order grants him authority to release evidence to other prosecutorial agencies, of which, he says, the ARDC is one.

Pribla does not believe the ARDC qualifies as a "prosecutorial agency," but the agency itself may side with O'Connor.

James Grogan, the ARDC's deputy administrator and chief counsel, said the agency's duties include prosecuting lawyers for violations of state ethics rules.

"Having said that, we do not prosecute violations of criminal law," Grogan said.

The contempt filing Friday comes amid an ongoing controversy sprung over Dalby's claims she was required to do campaign work on county time while serving as Bianchi's personal secretary in 2004 and 2005.

Dalby, now a college student, says she typed letters to campaign supporters, maintained mailing lists and set up at a fundraiser while she was being paid by the county. Bianchi repeatedly has denied those claims.

However, a 2007 affidavit from Bianchi's chief investigator - made public for the first time last week - confirmed that political letters Dalby claims to have typed at Bianchi's request were on her office computer. The state's attorney's office denied a Daily Herald Freedom of Information request for those documents in mid-October 2007, just weeks before filing the affidavit admitting they knew of their existence and where to find them.

Another special prosecutor was appointed last month to investigate whether Bianchi is guilty of wrongdoing.

Dalby pleaded guilty and was sentenced June 1 to court supervision on a misdemeanor computer tampering charge stemming from the accusations she unlawfully copied more than 5,000 documents from the office then turned them over to Bianchi's political rivals. Dalby said she copied and took the files on the advice of a lawyer in the office, in order to have evidence to support her allegations.

The contempt petition is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 16.