The bills of the three defense attorneys in this photo will presumably be picked up by McHenry County taxpayers. Left of and behind defendant McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi are his defense lawyers, Terry Ekl and his assistant Tracy Stanker. Bianchi's assistant Joyce Synek is seen with her attorney Ernest DiBenedetto on the right side of the photo. The smiles are anticipatory since Judge Joseph McGraw was still contemplating the decision when it was taken.

I written before than my 1980’s divorce was contentious and expensive.

After the legal bills got to $100,000, I stopped counting.

Having watched Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan’s crusade against McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi, I’m confident that defense counsel’s bill will be more than $100,000.

After all Tonigan has billed $312,000 and that’s only through November.

Add to that Joyce Synek’s lawyer’s bill.

And, as McHenry County Blog reported Quest International, the firm Tonigan hired as his investigator, has at least another $87,000 to bill McHenry County taxpayers.

Since Quest’s bills are included in the $312,000 mentioned above, Tonigan’s price totals $399,000, plus any bills he and assistant Thomas McQueen may request for services since the end of November.

The county taxpayers are easily on the hook for over $500,000 at this point, probably closer to $600,000, and that doesn’t count the second set of indictments Tonigan and McQueen have filed that involve “nephews” whose relationship both Bianchi and his Chief investigator Ron Salgado say are nonexistent or, at best, tenuous, that is, not what you or I would call a nephew.

Maybe after seeing the detail that Bianchi attorney Terry Ekl convinced Judge Joesph McGraw to produce this week, the County Board will decide not to pay it all. (For instance, couldn’t the McHenry County Sheriff served subpoenas more cheaply than Quest?)