Limitations on public statements by prosecutors

The Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct (promulgated by the Supreme Court and binding on all Illinois lawyers) place limitations on permissible public comments about pending and impending cases by state's attorneys.

In general, the rules forbid a lawyer who is participating in the investigation or litigation of a matter from making any statement out of court if the lawyer should know that public comment would "pose a serious and imminent threat to the fairness of an adjudicative proceeding."

A prosecutor is permitted to state: information contained in a public record; that an investigation of a matter is in progress; and the scheduling or result of any step in litigation. He or she may also request assistance in obtaining evidence and provide information necessary thereto, and warn of danger concerning the behavior of a person involved, when there is reason to believe that there exists the likelihood of substantial harm to an individual or to the public interest.

In particular, in a criminal case, the state's attorney may publicly announce: the identity, residence, occupation, and family status of the accused; if the accused has not been apprehended, information necessary to aid in his or her apprehension; the fact, time, and place of an arrest; and the identity of investigating and arresting officers or agencies and the length of the investigation.

The rules also place a burden on the state's attorney to make sure that investigators, law enforcement personnel, employees, and other assistants or associates do not make public statements that the prosecutor is forbidden from making.

First action: Hedinger dismissed

In an article in Wednesday's Daily Register, Eric Fodor reported:

"State's Attorney David Nelson wasted no time in firing Stephen Hedinger, who was serving former State's Attorney Rod Wolf as an apparently unpaid assistant for landfill matters.

"Hedinger, a Springfield-based lawyer whose official title was assistant state's attorney for environmental affairs, was notified of his dismissal in a letter and facsimile dated this morning.

"Hedinger's primary duty was representing Wolf's office in efforts to keep Saline County Landfill closed, or at least to oppose the landfill's expansion permit, which would allow it to continue operating.

"Nelson is not sure whether he will continue to pursue litigation against Midwest Waste, the parent company of Saline County Landfill. He plans to look over the file and see whether Wolf's case against the landfill has any merit, Nelson said this morning.

"Saline County Landfill's operations have been embroiled in controversy for years, with prospects for both sides in the controversy getting brighter or dimmer with each new twist. As of now, the landfill's 28.9-acre expansion permit -- given the OK by the Pollution Control Board on May 6 -- is the subject of an appeal pending in the Fifth District Appellate Court."

Swearing-in set for Wednesday morning

Saline County Presiding Judge Bruce D. Stewart will be swearing me in as state's attorney about 7:55 a.m. on Wednesday, December 1, at the courthouse. I expect to be making an announcement on Wednesday about Attorney Stephen Hedinger, who has been acting as a special assistant state's attorney by appointment of Rod Wolf.

Mr. Wolf has been extremely cooperative in making the transition between administrations a smooth one, for which I am very grateful.

Personnel announcements

I am pleased to announce today that Attorney Tammi Jackson will become an assistant state’s attorney when my term begins on December 1st.

Ms. Jackson, a Galatia native, is a 2001 graduate of the SIU School of Law. For the past three years she has been employed as an associate in the Hughes Law Office in Carbondale. Her legal skills will be a great asset to us, and I am very pleased that she has agreed to return to Saline County to join our legal team.

Ms. Jackson will be replacing Lowell Tison, who is moving to Hardin County to engage in the private practice of law. Mr. Tison has worked tirelessly for many years as an assistant to retiring state’s attorney Rod Wolf, and I want to publicly thank him for his service.

Paul Myers has agreed to remain as an assistant state’s attorney as I take over from Mr. Wolf. Mr. Myers' continuing presence will help to ensure stability and continuity. This is extremely important in this office, the work of which will not and cannot pause simply because a different person holds the office of state’s attorney.

Mr. Wolf’s support staff–Cathy Cockrum, Amy Pankey, Teresa Mills, Cheryl Stallings, and Dee Pelhank–have also all agreed to stay on during the transition between administrations.

A Clean Slate

Now that Election Day is finally upon us, and I do not have an opponent on the ballot, I am looking forward to assuming my duties as state's attorney on December 1st. Since there has been talk all along about a write-in campaign, I have of necessity been hesitant to assume anything. I don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched, but at the same time December 1st is only a month away, and there is lots of work to be done in the transition from Rod Wolf's administration. So I decided that it was time to go ahead and start this blog, which I hope will be an effective way to communicate with the public about the state's attorney's office, and for the people to communicate with us.

I anticipate that we will have links to forms and other useful resources, and I'm certainly open to suggestions. Send email messages to david@cdavidnelson.com.

Pre-election press release

The following press release was provided to the Daily Register and Radio Station WEBQ on Friday:

David Nelson, the Democratic nominee for Saline County state’s attorney, released the following statement Friday, October 29:

I attended the county board meeting Thursday night at which the budgets of the state’s attorney’s office, and other county offices, were the main topic of discussion.

In anticipation of my election and assuming office on December 1st, I thought this might be an appropriate time for me to share some positive information with Saline County taxpayers.

There has been a tradition over the years, in Saline County and elsewhere, for officeholders to hire their spouses and other relatives. Public service has been very good to me and my family over the years. Knowing of the financial constraints the county is operating under, my wife Mona has volunteered to bring her considerable experience to the state’s attorney’s office, without pay.

She will be a tremendous asset to the office and to the county. Many of you are familiar with her work when she was the executive director of the housing authority. Probably fewer are aware that she was a judicial secretary for the late appellate court Justice Peyton Kunce, as well as having been a legal secretary for former U.S. attorney W. Charles Grace when he was public defender of Jackson County. She also served as a secretary for me and my former law partner, Bruce Stewart, now the presiding judge here in Saline County.

I expect that Mona’s primary responsibilities will be to serve as a liaison between the state’s attorney’s office and community social agencies, especially as regards children and the elderly. She has also volunteered to take over Phyllis Ferrell’s function as delinquent fines specialist.

I will be announcing other plans for the office after next Tuesday’s election.

Update: The Register ran the gist of the release on Saturday's front page, under the headline (in the print edition) "Salary of David Nelson's first employee a boost to county's budget." (For some reason, the editors chose to change my word constraints to restraints. No big deal, I was just brought up to think that whatever was within quotation marks was supposed to be what the person quoted actually said or wrote, verbatim.)