New venue for DuPage judge's reckless conduct case
Reckless conduct charges against DuPage County Judge Patrick O'Shea will be heard in Kane County court to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Kane County Circuit Judge John Barsanti on Friday ordered the misdemeanor case against O'Shea to be heard at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15 at the branch court in St. Charles.
O'Shea currently is free on a $5,000 recognizance bond. He has been removed from all his judicial duties in the wake of his arrest.
The complaint against O'Shea stems from Sept. 15 when authorities say he fired a bullet through a common wall in his Wheaton apartment building. His neighbors later found the bullet in their living room.
The complaint says O'Shea “pulled the trigger without first determining that the firearm was not loaded, causing the firearm to discharge, causing a bullet to enter the living area of the adjoining apartment.”
O'Shea, 67, of the 200 block of E. Willow Avenue, was arrested on a warrant.
A neighbor noticed a hole in the west wall of her living room after returning home from work about 4 p.m. Sept. 15 and reported it to the apartment complex's management office, according to a Wheaton police report obtained by the Daily Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request.
On Sept. 24, the neighbors told police they found what appeared to be a spent bullet on their living room floor. They turned the bullet over to police along with photographs they had taken of their damaged walls.
Police reports say O'Shea gave property managers at least three different excuses for the hole, including that he accidentally put a screwdriver through the wall while hanging a mirror and that his son accidentally caused the hole while using a pneumatic nail gun.
In a written statement, DuPage Chief Judge Kathryn Creswell said the Executive Committee of the DuPage Circuit Court, which includes the presiding judges of the court's five divisions, made the decision to strip O'Shea of his judicial duties after he was charged with the misdemeanor offense.
He also was stripped of his unrestricted access to court facilities.
As a condition of his bond, O'Shea was ordered to turn in all his weapons, ammunition, FOID card and concealed carry permit to the Wheaton police.
The Illinois State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's office, which is prosecuting the case, has not responded to numerous requests for comment.