Removed from judgeship, Duebbert files to run for St. Clair County State’s Attorney
Ronald Duebbert, a former circuit judge who was recently removed from office by the state’s courts commission, will run as a write-in candidate for St. Clair County State’s Attorney.
Duebbert filed to run for the position as a Republican, records from the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office showed Wednesday.
Duebbert intends to run against current State’s Attorney Jim Gomric, a Democrat, on November 3. No other Republicans had filed to run for the office as of Wednesday.
St. Clair County Republican Party Chairman Barbara Viviano declined to comment on Wednesday. Duebbert said Wednesday afternoon he would comment on the announcement in the future.
In a letter to the Madison County Record on Jan. 21, Duebbert said he was choosing to run for State’s Attorney because he feels he was unfairly removed from office and wants to answer his critics “as loudly and as clearly as is possible.” The Record, which publishes court dockets and trial updates, is owned by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform.
“If I am elected as your St. Clair County State’s Attorney, I will continue to fight for fair, just and equitable prosecution — for all the People,” he wrote in the letter. “Politics will play no role, which is fair and just.”
The Illinois Courts Commission removed Duebbert’s judgeship on Jan. 10 after finding he lied to police and the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board about his contact with David E. Fields, a suspect in the murder investigation of Carl Z. Silas. Fields was later acquitted of the charges.
Duebbert was elected to the 20th Judicial Court on Nov. 8, 2016, defeating Democratic incumbent John Baricevic, but was limited to administrative duties in January 2017 after Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson learned of his connections to Fields.
In his letter to the Record, Duebbert says he was intimidated, harassed, defamed and politically prosecuted by the Belleville police, the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Illinois Appellate Prosecutors and the Office of Chief Judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit.
Duebbert wrote that the people of St. Clair County “deserve to know the story of how and why I was charged with judicial misconduct,” as well as with “fake crimes” and that the story would unfold in detail during his campaign.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 2:38 PM.
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