McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi has hired a new assistant.

He is Michael Combs and now serves as top deputy in the office of Bianchi’s Ogle County’s counterpart.

Here is the press release Bianchi sent out:

Louis A. Bianchi, the State’s Attorney for McHenry County, is pleased to announce that Attorney Michael Combs, the First Assistant to the Ogle County State’s Attorney, will join the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office on March 10, 2008 as a prosecutor handling narcotics and special prosecution cases.

Combs is a 1999 Cum Laude graduate of New York Law School, is certified by the Illinois Supreme Court to try capital cases as lead counsel, and is a Trial Advocacy instructor of prosecutors statewide.

Combs was previously a prosecutor in the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office where he handled murder, reckless homicide, gang, and drug cases. He has successfully prosecuted four first degree murder cases and 75 jury trials throughout his career.