Judges’ retirements signal end of an era

Last call took on an entirely different meaning last week at the Rolling Meadows courthouse, where the unexpected retirement of three veteran Cook County Circuit Court judges signaled the end of an era.

Retiring are Third Municipal Presiding Judge Joseph Urso, following a 33-year career marked by numerous high-profile cases; Associate Judge Howard Fink, the Harvard Law School graduate; and Associate Judge John Scotillo, nicknamed “Gentleman John” for his even courtroom temperament.

Many courthouse observers said the three departures leave a void that won’t easily be filled. Urso disagrees.

“Everything will go on just like it has,” he said.

Urso spent 20 years on the bench at the Criminal Courts Building in Chicago before transferring to Rolling Meadows, where he continued to hear cases in addition to performing administrative duties that sometimes kept him at the courthouse late into the night.

Among the thousands of cases he heard — including 200 death penalty cases — were the trials of Skyler Chambers and Turner Reeves, sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 rape and murder of a 14-year-old Carol Stream girl, and Russell Sedelmaier who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life without parole for the 2005 murder of a minister and his adult daughter in their Buffalo Grove home.

Urso also presided over the trial of serial killer Larry Eyler, sentenced to death for murdering a teenage Chicago boy, and the Girl X case, which concluded with a 120-year sentence for Patrick Sykes for raping, choking and poisoning a 9-year-old girl.

“It’s going to be a real loss for the Circuit Court of Cook County. He was a tremendous judge, a tremendous leader no matter what side you were on,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, who prosecuted the Girl X case. She considers Urso a mentor and took the oath of office from him.

“He’s a judge’s judge,” said Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Fecarotta, who presides over one of Rolling Meadows’ felony courtrooms. “He’s the one person I know I can go to with anything and he always has the right answer.”

As a Cook County assistant state’s attorney, Urso supervised Cook County’s first felony review unit, which provides prosecutors who assist police in taking statements and determining charges to reduce the number of arrests or confessions thrown out because of improper procedures. As a prosecutor, he also spent three years helping to solve the I-57 murders, which concluded with a life sentence for Henry Brisbon, later sentenced to death for killing a fellow prisoner. Urso calls the case his proudest professional accomplishment.

But Urso recognized not every defendant deserves to be a felon.

He had a saying, which other judges have adopted: “Supervision is intended for someone who is otherwise not a criminal, who commits a criminal offense.”

“People who do bad things deserve to go to jail for a long period of time,” he said. “But we should not ruin people’s lives when they do a foolish, criminal act.”

Referring to Urso as a legend, Cook County assistant state’s attorney Mike Gerber described him as a “walking legal encyclopedia” who knows the law and how to apply it.

He ran a tight ship.

“He demanded good lawyering. He demanded professionalism,” said Arlington Heights attorney Ernie Blomquist, who worked for Urso in the state’s attorneys office. “Be ready. Get there on time. Do your case the proper way.”

“Judge Urso is not just another pretty face,” joked Scotillo. “He’s a brilliant man. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Hyman Riebman says the same of Scotillo, whom he calls one of the kindest and brightest judges he’s ever known.

“He’s a friend on and off the bench,” Riebman said.

Scotillo projected dignity and respect and he ran his courtroom the same way, said Blomquist, who worked with the judge to develop judicial candidate screenings for the Northwest Suburban Bar Association.

“I’m aware of how fortunate I am and how fortunate I’ve been to be a judge,” said Scotillo, who was appointed in 1988 and has been described as a skilled jurist.

A federal prosecutor during President John F. Kennedy’s administration, Fink has been a judge since 1982 and has been assigned to the Rolling Meadows courthouse since it opened in 1989.

“He was the self-proclaimed ‘dumbest man to ever graduate from Harvard Law School’ and he was anything but,” said Cook County assistant public defender Scott Slonim.

“He was always right on the issues,” said Blomquist, who praised Fink’s ability to anticipate legal issues that might arise and research them.

His brilliance, sensitivity to young lawyers and his willingness to take time with them made him a beloved judge, Blomquist said.

Judges earn $178,835 annually, while associate judges earn $169,893, said a spokesman for the Illinois Supreme Court. They contribute 11 percent of their salary into their pension plan, which allows them to retire at age 60, after 20 years on the bench, at 85 percent of their pay which is accompanied by a 3 percent cost of living increase per year.

The simultaneous departures are not coincidence. Retiring in January allows the judges to collect their pensions beginning next year. Retiring later would mean waiting until 2013 to collect their pensions, said a retired judge.

Retiring judges invariably leave some work unfinished. That includes Urso and Scotillo, who were both presiding over death penalty cases that will be assigned a new judge by incoming Presiding Judge William O. Maki.

But good judges will take over and complete the task, insisted Scotillo, who spent his last day on the bench managing a busy court call, most of it consisting of hearings on probation violations. As his final ruling, he terminated a young woman’s probation uttering the words every defendant longs to hear.

“You’re free to go,” he said.