When I read in the Chicago Tribune that Lou Bianchi attorney Terry Ekl was asking for a Special Prosecutor to probe the LaSalle County Sheriff’s Department, I could not help but reflect that Bianchi was indicted by a Special Prosecutor.
Ekl was so disturbed by the actions of Henry Tonigan and Thomas McQueen that he sued both of them, plus their investigators, Quest International, on behalf Bianchi and the other defendants (all found not guilty without having to put on any evidence).
Tonigan got out of the suit by writing a check. Ekl turned over $105,000 to McHenry County coffers.
McQueen and Quest face a trial in Rockford on December 18th before the same judge that found the defendants not guilty, Winnebago County Chief Judge Joseph McGraw.
Ekl will be prosecuting the case of indirect contempt of court without charge.
The basis of the indirect contempt charges include McQueen’s and the investigators’
- making false statements in court
- repeated failure to comply with court orders requiring them to turn over witness statements
- willfully failing to turn over exculpatory evidence