McHenry County Blog

The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office has brought home a guilty verdict in the Brian Carrick murder case.

Details in Amanda Marrozzo’s Chicago Tribune article.

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney:

TIM SMITH CONVICTED OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that Tim Smith, 28, formerly of Woodstock, was found guilty, after a five hour jury deliberation, of the offense of first degree murder.

This case was investigated by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.

The victim, Kurt Milliman, had responded to a Craig’s List add which offered the services of a prostitute in exchange for money.

When Milliman arrived at the defendant’s home on 4320 Doty Road, Woodstock, IL, he met Kimberly Smith, the defendant’s wife.

The two started to have sexual relations, but Kimberly Smith abruptly stopped and an argument ensued.

The defendant then came out of a room where he had been hiding and shot Kurt Milliman in the back.

The defendant then damaged his home, smashed a window and called the police claiming someone had broken into the home and attacked his wife.

A subsequent investigation by the Sheriff’s Department revealed that the defendant had placed the add on Craig’s List and was “pimping” his wife for profit.

The defendant was interviewed by detectives and admitted to fabricating the story of the break-in and that he had been selling his wife for sex on the internet.

The defendant will be sentenced on April 25, 2013 at 1:30 pm and faces a minimum sentence of 45 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The case was prosecuted by Michael Combs, Chief of the Criminal Division of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, Patrick Kenneally and Andrew Mueller.

Andy Zinke shakes hands with his boss Sheriff Keith Nygren.

McHenry County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Koziol was in Judge Thomas Meyer’s courtroom as his attorney Jonathan Nye and Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally spoke softly about preliminaries in the case.

Nye noted that the State’s Attorney had not make a decision on what it’s position would be.

Kenneally explained that Michael Combs, Chief of the Criminal Division, was getting his cast changed and asked for time for the State’s Attorney’s Office to decide what role, if any, it wanted to play in the case.

Judge Meyer, who rejected a petition from Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler for a Special Prosecutor to probe Sheriff Keith Nygren, gave Lou Bianchi’s office a week to file paperwork.

He was going to give Bianchi’s office two weeks, but shortened it to one when Nye argued two weeks was too long.

Koziol has requested that a Special Prosecutor be named to probe his allegations that Undersheriff Andy Zinke compromised a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation of a Crystal Lake businessman.

Nye said he was willing to rely on the pleadings that he had already filed.

One issue that will not come up is whether Zinke has standing in the case.

Meyer allowed Nygren to have an attorney represent his interests, including participating in the deposition of Bianchi, but later concluded that the subject of the possible investigation had no standing.

Also in the room were Sheriff’s Department Affirmative Action Officer, Don Leist, an attorney, and McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler.  Zinke was absent.

Koziol, Nye and Kenneally did not comment after the session, but Koehler said,

“The allegations are serious and wherever the court decides to go I hope they will look at…an agency that will cost the county nothing…Talking about a Federal drug case that is ongoing [it] would be fair to make a statement… [that] is a serious allegation and can’t be taken lightly.”

A press release from McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi:

ROBERT LUCHT CONVICTED OF THREE COUNTS OF PREDATORY CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT TO A CHILD AND AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL SEXUAL ABUSE

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that Robert Lucht, 56, formerly of Lake in the Hills, was found guilty, after a two hour jury deliberation, of

• three counts of the offense of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child and
• one count of the offense of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse.

This case was investigated by the Lake in the Hills Police Department.

The victim of the assaults was an 11 year old child who was admitted to a hospital for suicidal intentions and for harming herself.

She then reported that she had been sexually assaulted by the defendant multiple times between the ages of seven and nine.

When the defendant was confronted with the allegations by the police he gave a written confession admitting he assaulted the child.

The defendant will be sentenced on November 20, 2012 at 1:30 pm and faces a minimum sentence of 21 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The case was prosecuted by Sharyl Eisenstein and Michael Combs, Chief of the Criminal Division of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The biggest headline I have even seen in the Northwest Herald.

As you can see, the Northwest Herald scooped other media on the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s having concluded that former McHenry Policeman Dale Hojnacki “may have tampered with narcotics evidence.”

The paper even published a copy of the letter to Jamie Rein, President of the McHenry County Bar Association.

The added value that McHenry County Blog can offer is an internet searchable copy of that letter, which you see below. It came as one long paragraph, which I have separated into one-sentence paragraphs in order to make it easier to read.

Jamie Rein May 1, 2012
President McHenry County Bar Association
110 South Johnson Street, Suite 211
Woodstock, IL 60098

Re: McHenry Police Officer Dale Hojnacki

Dear Ms. Rein,

I need to inform you of potentially exculpatory evidence involving all arrests made by the McHenry Police Department.

I will be filing a supplemental discovery motion in every case involving an arrest by the McHenry police department, but I want to make sure that you are aware of potential evidentiary problems and I would respectfully request that you share this information with all bar members.

Recently, Officer Dale Hojnacki resigned from the McHenry police department.

His resignation was prompted by an internal investigation which resulted in his being accused of stealing United States Currency from an evidence locker.

Officer Hojnacki has been charged with multiple counts of the felony offenses of theft and official misconduct (12CF352) for that conduct.

A subsequent investigation has revealed that Officer Hojnacki may have tampered with narcotics evidence. The McHenry police department has reason to believe that Officer Hojnacki has been opening sealed evidence bags and removing narcotics.

An audit will be performed by an outside agency and I expect to have the results by the end of June. The results of the audit will be sent to you at a later date.

While he is presumed innocent of all charges and allegations, evidence of his alleged misconduct may be admissible in cases involving arrests by the McHenry police department because of the potential for a violation of chain of custody involving evidence.

I am sending this correspondence pursuant to my obligation under Brady because I believe that Officer Hojnacki’s conduct has potentially compromised the evidence against any person who has been arrested by the McHenry police department.

Please contact me directly at 815-334-4936 with any questions or concerns. I will contact you at a later date when I have more information.

Respectfully,

Michael Combs
Chief, Criminal Division

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office:

KENNETH SMITH SENTENCED FOR THE THIRD TIME TO 67 YEARS IN PRISON FOR THE OFFENSE OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that 35 year old Kenneth Smith was sentenced for the third time to 67 years in prison for the offenses of first degree murder and attempt armed robbery.

Kenneth Smith

Smith has been found guilty three times of the March 6, 2001 murder of Raul Briseno at the Burrito Express Restaurant in the City of McHenry.

In 2003, and again in 2008, a McHenry County jury convicted Smith of shooting Briseno with a .22 caliber pistol in the course of robbing his restaurant.

Both convictions were overturned by an Illinois Appellate Court.

On February 29, 2012 a third jury convicted Smith of the crime bringing the total to 36 people of this community who heard the evidence and were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of his guilt.

Today, Judge Sharon Prather once again sentenced the defendant to a term of 67 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the offense of first degree murder with a concurrent 7 year sentence for the offense of attempt armed robbery.

Under truth in sentencing guidelines the defendant must serve the entire 67 years before he is eligible for parole.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorneys

• Michael Combs
• David Johnston and
• David Metnick

and was investigated by the City of McHenry Police Department with the assistance of the McHenry Investigative Assistance Team.

Lou Bianch explains the First Offender Program in 2010.

I read a story in the Daily Herald on election day last week about a person in McHenry  County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s First Offender Program.

The headline was “Antioch woman charged with forging state’s attorney documents.”

First announced in 2007, Bianchi rolled out the First Offender program in 2010 with a press conference in the Grand Jury Room.

The next anyone heard of it was when Special Prosecutors Henry Tonigan and Thomas McQueen picked one of the very cases Bianchi alluded to in his press conference as reason for criminally indicting Bianchi.

The Special Prosecutor’s research was shoddy.

But back to the Daily Herald article.

I asked the State’s Attorney about the case and got the following reply from Michael Combs, Chief of the Criminal Division:

“You asked Lou for his reaction to an article in the daily herald.

“I would point out that the article was misleading in that it states that Misty Jurs was found guilty of writing bad checks.

“That is incorrect.

“Nobody in the first offender program is convicted.

“They are given the opportunity to complete the program and, in exchange, if they are successful the case is dismissed.

“To date 19 people have successfully completed our program and 8 have failed.

“In Misty Jurs’ case it was brought to our attention by her employer that she was ‘doctoring’ documents which were placed on our letterhead.

She scanned our letterhead onto her computer and then wrote a letter stating she had been in court.

“This information was false and when we learned of this we proactively contacted the appropriate police department so it could be investigated.

“The daily herald article fails to mention our role in this case.

“We take our first offender program very seriously and we want to give people who commit non-violent crimes for the first time an opportunity for rehabilitation because it makes them more productive citizens.

“That being said we certainly cannot allow a participant to misrepresent information to her employer and had an obligation to turn that over to the police.

“It is unfortunate that Misty Jurs took action that caused her termination, but many other people have successfully completed our program which proves that is working effectively.”

Kenneth Smith

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office:

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that 35-year old Kenneth Smith was found guilty of First Degree Murder and Attempt Armed Robbery.

The evidence at trial proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant shot Raul Briseno outside of the Burrito Express Restaurant in McHenry on March 6, 2001.

Lou Bianchi

The jury deliberated approximately 20 hours before rendering the verdict.

A sentencing hearing will be held April 26, 2012 at 1:30 p.m.

“I’m happy about the decision of the jury. It’s a good decision not only for the community, but for the lawyers in our office.

“Thirty-six people have now found Ken Smith guilty of murder. It’s important to our community to know that we have a lot of competent lawyers in our office fighting to keep our community safe and a good place to raise a family.

“Nick Combs is one of the finest attorneys in the State of Illinois and I’m proud to work with him.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorneys Michael Combs, David Johnston and David Metnick and was investigated by the McHenry City Police Department with the assistance of the McHenry Investigative Assistance Team.

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office:

55 YEAR SENTENCE GIVEN TO CARY MAN GUILTY OF CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

John Reed

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces today that John “Jack” Reed, 35, of Cary, was found guilty Wednesday, November 16, 2011, of multiple counts of Criminal Sexual Assault and Child Pornography.

The defendant was charged with having sexual contact with a female relative over several months.

The victim was a minor at the time of the offenses.

During the trial, the jury was shown four separate videotaped encounters that contained multiple acts of sexual penetration.

Those videotaped images were recovered from the defendant’s laptop computer and were later analyzed by a forensic computer laboratory.

Additionally, the jury heard testimony from two other eye-witnesses to sexual acts between the defendant and the victim.

After approximately three hours of deliberations, the jury found the defendant guilty of ten counts of Criminal Sexual Assault and four counts of Child Pornography.

The Honorable Judge Joseph Condon sentenced Reed to 55 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

This case was investigated by Sergeant Parsons of the Woodstock Police Department and forensic analysis was conducted by Amy Maskiewicz of the Chicago Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorneys Sharyl Eisenstein and Michael Combs.

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office:

MICHAEL COMBS APPOINTED NEW CHIEF OF THE CRIMINAL DIVISION FOR THE STATE’S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, is pleased to announce that Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs has been promoted to Chief of the Criminal Division for the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, effective January 3, 2012.

Michael Combs replaces Philip Hiscock who is leaving the State’s Attorney’s Office to pursue an opportunity with the Federal Government of the United States.

Combs is a seasoned felony prosecutor, who was previously assigned to the Special Prosecution Unit of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office handling high profile cases and cases involving complex evidentiary issues.

Combs was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1999, and was admitted by the Supreme Court of Illinois as a member of the Capital Litigation Trial Bar in 2007.

Michael Combs is a 1996 graduate of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and a 1999 graduate of New York Law School in New York, New York.

Prior to his arrival at the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, Combs served as First Assistant in the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office supervising and training attorneys and support staff.

He also served as team leader of the felony trial team in the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office and acted as first chair in 35 jury trials, including four First Degree Murder trials that all resulted in convictions.

Combs also tried 40 jury trials as an Assistant Public Defender in the Winnebago County Public Defender’s Office.