‘Who you hire matters’: J. Hanley touts trial success in Winnebago County

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office has taken eight murder cases to trial since the start of 2021, and all eight ended with a guilty conviction.

While State’s Attorney J. Hanley stressed the perfect trial record isn’t sustainable, he said the improvements the office has made are worth recognizing.

On Wednesday, he touted the success of the prosecutors on his team during the third in a series of weekly news conferences to update the press and the public on his office’s initiatives. He used previous news conferences to announce the start of a new gun court and the expansion of a deferred prosecution program.

“I want to highlight the talent in our office,” Hanley said. “We have some of the best trial attorneys in the state of Illinois, even probably in the Midwest.”

“The people who we’re able to hire and retain matter, and it matters for the victims of these horrible crimes and the people of Winnebago County.”

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Conviction rates were in the spotlight when Hanley was campaigning for office in 2020. From 2008 through January 2020, 61% of murder trials ended in a guilty verdict, according to an analysis of all trial records. Hanley said Wednesday that rate was around 55% when he took office in December 2020.

“It is not my goal to go 100% in murder trials because what that means is you’re potentially not being as aggressive as you should be,” Hanley said. “There are times where there’s tough cases, you actually do a great job prosecuting those cases, and the jury just finds them not guilty.”

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The record isn’t important, Hanley said, but creating an environment where prosecutors can succeed is.

“What I care about is: Do I have skilled prosecutors who are fighting for justice for those victims and for the people of Winnebago County,” he said.

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Hanley also spotlighted five sex-crime sentences in 2021 that led to a combined total of 122 years in prison, and three domestic violence and driving under the influence convictions that resulted in a combined 70 years in prison.

He highlighted cases prosecuted by Ken LaRue, Kirsten Krivanec, Amy Ohtani, Melissa Voss, Joel Mathur, Taylor Nesbit, Andrew Fisk, Alex Ronning, Eric Vernsten, Alesandra Friend, Justin Neubauer and Theodora Green.

“Who you hire matters,” Hanley said. “When I talk about my successes individually and as an office — Ken LaRue, Teddy Green, Amy Ohtani, Kristen Krivanec — those are the successes.”

The recognition is being given after a challenging two-year period brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and other factors. The pandemic, which initially halted trials, has now led to a backlog, Hanley said. LaRue, who is slated to handle two murder trials per month through September, has been working 80-90 hour weeks to keep pace with the caseload.

LaRue, a Navy veteran who joined the staff shortly after Hanley’s arrival as one of his initial recruits, came from Lake County with 24 years of experience.

“We are so lucky to have him in Winnebago County. He’s one of the best if not the best in the state,” Hanley said. “The detectives in Rockford and Winnebago County understand that from the moment they get called out to the scene Ken LaRue is going to be an amazing asset to them in helping them with the investigation.”

Prosecutors were also challenged by changes to speedy trial laws, the addition of body cameras for local police which led to vastly more video evidence to review, social upheaval and the coming changes to bond laws.

“If you talk to the prosecutors in my office and throughout the state, I don’t know that you would have a more challenging two and a half year period,” Hanley said. “But not only are we doing it. We’re doing it as well as it’s been done in recent memory.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas