False Testimony From ISP, Prosecutorial Misconduct Led To Clerk's Indictment, Judge Rules

WAUKEGAN, IL — The Lake County State's Attorney's Office presented false and misleading evidence from a state police investigator to a grand jury in order to secure an indictment against the Waukegan City Clerk, according to a judge's bombshell order issued Friday.

Lake County Circuit Judge Patricia Fix dismissed all criminal charges against City Clerk Janet Kilkelly, ruling that grand jurors likely would not have indicted her in the first place had Illinois State Police Special Agent Dave Juergensen testified truthfully.

"Police and prosecutors’ roles are intertwined with both bearing reciprocally weighty responsibilities to uncover and analyze all relevant facts and evidence upon reviewing charges and requesting indictments," Fix said in the order.

"Inexplicably and sadly, in this case, performance in these roles was sorely deficient, causing the grand jury to be misled as to critical and material information directly relevant to all of the charges."

Juergensen was the sole witness that the office of Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart presented to the grand jury in March to get it to sign off on a 15-count indictment against Kilkelly on charges of official misconduct and misapplication of funds, alleging she illegally waived fees for local businesses as part of a COVID-19 relief effort.

"In this matter, so much misleading and false information was presented to the grand jury on material issues that the denial of due process is unequivocally clear," the judge said. "Indeed, had ALL the facts been initially known and presented to the Grand Jury, there would likely have been a different outcome."

Fix's ruling focused on two key falsehoods in the testimony from Juergensen, a senior agent with state police who collects an annual salary in excess of $120,000, that was presented by the office of Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart, the Highland Park Democrat who was elected to a second term this month.

First: that Kilkelly had been appointed as a deputy local liquor control commissioner by former Mayor Sam Cunningham in 2017, even though he never had.

During a court hearing, both Cunningham and current Mayor Ann Taylor testified that they never appointed the clerk to the post, and Juergensen admitted under oath he had merely assumed the appointment without bothering to ask anyone or ever seeing any documents identifying her as such, according to the ruling.

The other key piece of false testimony concerned the definition of "in good standing."

Prosecutors argued that Kilkelly had violated a 2020 municipal ordinance that required businesses to be "in good standing" to qualify for pandemic-related credits.

However, the judge noted that the term was undefined, making the charges untenable.

Juergensen admitted that the resolution did not define the term and there was nothing that could have given Kilkelly its definition, so he made up his own and used that to decide which businesses Kilkelly had allegedly illegally provided COVID-19 relief.

"Considering the grand jurors’ questions, there is a distinct possibility that no indictment would have been returned had the state’s witness responded truthfully and in a manner that did not mislead the grand jury," Fix ruled. "Without a definition of ineligible businesses, it is impossible to charge [Kilkelly] with abuses in the application of the Covid credits."

The charges stemmed from Kilkelly's approval of approximately $6,300 in credits to five local businesses under Resolution No. 20-R-95, approved by the Waukegan City Council on December 21, 2020.

The resolution provided one-time COVID-19 relief in the form of credits toward 2021-2022 liquor and gaming license fees for qualifying license holders.

After the charges were filed in March, Kilkelly remained in her role as city clerk despite calls from some Waukegan aldermen to suspend her from certain duties. A proposed ordinance to reassign her responsibilities, including oversight of licenses and Freedom of Information Act requests, failed in a narrow 5-4 City Council vote.

Kilkelly, who was first elected in 2017, reelected in 2021 and is running uncontested in April, on Friday thanked her attorneys and Waukegan residents for their support during the case, describing it as “extremely stressful” for her and her family, according to the Lake County News-Sun.

“As someone who has dedicated over 40 years of their life to the Waukegan community, I promise to continue serving and helping all Waukegan residents as their city clerk,” Kilkelly said.

"The public must be able to trust that those who work in public service will follow the law and use our tax dollars as intended," Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said earlier this year in a statement announcing Kilkelly’s indictment.

At that time, Rinehart claimed that Kilkelly had "violated the public trust" and cost the taxpayers a significant amount of revenue.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office has not issued a public statement on the judge's finding that its prosecutorial misconduct was so bad that it rose to a level of a due process violation.

Read more:

• Indicted Waukegan City Clerk Asks Judge To Dismiss Felony Charges, Hearing Planned
• Indicted City Clerk To Keep Her Powers As Aldermen Reject Ordinance
• Waukegan City Clerk Janet Kilkelly Charged Over Approval Of Liquor, Gambling Credits