Go outside to fix prosecutor’s office

We are former prosecutors in Lake County who believe that your analysis of the race for state’s attorney was superficial and incorrect.

Like you, we are very concerned at the rash of wrongful conviction cases that have come to light in the last two years (none of us worked on those cases). Like you, we believe that resolving and preventing wrongful convictions is critical for Lake County and its taxpayers, so it requires a serious, well-considered plan.

We endorse Chris Kennedy’s plan to bring in a career prosecutor who has no ties to the office or its cases as the only approach that makes sense. Kennedy’s Conviction Integrity Unit is modeled after those that have been proven to work elsewhere; his opponent’s plan has never been tried, with good reason. Reliance upon unpaid, volunteer attorneys to review pending or closed cases fails to address the seriousness of the issue and would cause many problems, including significant confidentiality issues, conflicts of interest, as well as ethical and logistical difficulties.

If you want an “outside, independent” review of Lake County’s prosecutions, you should vote for an “outside, independent” state’s attorney: Chris Kennedy.

David Stepanich, Sean Burke, Gerald Dombrowski, Donald J. Morrison, Paul O’Keefe, Craig Pierson; Attorneys in Lake County