Belleville attorney accused of falsely portraying chief judge as white supremacist
The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission has filed a complaint against Belleville attorney Margaret J. Lowery and is asking that she be disciplined by the Illinois Supreme Court.
The complaint charges Lowery with making “false or reckless statements about the qualifications or integrity” of St. Clair County Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson on a website and Facebook page and in a telephone conversation with a customer-service representative of the domain registrar GoDaddy.
Two of four counts involve online posts that portrayed Gleeson as a white supremacist and Ku Klux Klansman in the months leading up to the general election in 2018, when the judge was running for retention.
Lowery’s actions violated the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers in the state, according to the complaint.
“You can disagree with a judge or express disappointment with an action taken by a judge, but you can’t attack the integrity of a judge, especially if you allege that a judge is corrupt, and you don’t have evidence of that,” said Steve Splitt, commission spokesman.
The complaint, filed with the commission’s Hearing Board, also charges that Lowery made false statements under oath when officials questioned her about the case.
Lowery has practiced law for more than 30 years with an emphasis on health care, corporate and guardianship matters. She emailed a statement on Friday.
“I am saddened by the complaint filed by the ARDC, and I take the matter very seriously,” she wrote. “I have every faith in our legal system and in the integrity of the process. My response shall be made formally through my counsel within the process prescribed by the Rules.”
Lowery is being represented by Chicago attorney Sam Manella, who specializes in cases involving professional responsibility and attorney disciplinary law and procedures, according to his bio on the website of DePaul University, where he teaches.
Gleeson commented in broad terms in a telephone interview Friday.
“I’ve been a member of the Illinois State Bar Association for almost 35 years, and I trust the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission to pursue this matter in a fair and impartial manner,” he said. “Their unbiased and measured response to this complaint will serve as my statement.”
Website called ‘firetheliarjudge.com’
The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission is tasked with helping the Illinois Supreme Court regulate the state’s legal profession.
The case against Lowery was examined by the commission’s Inquiry Board, which is similar to a grand jury in the court system. The board authorized the complaint to be filed earlier this week. She has 21 days to submit a formal answer.
The complaint charges that Lowery:
- Created the website “firetheliarjudge.com” through GoDaddy in September of 2018 as part of an anti-retention campaign against Gleeson and linked it to a Facebook page for a fictitious person named Madeline M. Dinmont.
- Posted an entry on the website in October of 2018 falsely claiming that another anti-retention campaign called “Justice for Kane” against Judge Zina Cruse, an African American judge from East St. Louis, was the “brain child” of Gleeson and others who wanted to “run a female minority judge off the bench to preserve his white male privilege.”
- Posted another entry on the website in October of 2018 falsely claiming that Gleeson supported a white supremacist group called the National Association for Majority Equality that was allegedly behind the Justice for Kane campaign.
- Posted an entry on the Dinmont Facebook page that falsely identified Gleeson as a white supremacist and member of the Ku Klux Klan. The post said “Gleeson is part of the St. Clair County Secret Order of the Hibernians. That’s why he uses the Irish clover. Wanna guess how many of its members are persons of color? None. Wanna see Gleeson in his ‘chief’ regalia?” An attached image showed a Ku Klux Klansman wearing a white hood and robe with a clover and “Gleeson” name tag, standing next to a Confederate flag and noose, with the caption “Vote No Retention!” The Ancient Order of Hibernians is a Catholic organization, whose members are primarily of Irish decent.
- Provided sworn testimony to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission at its Springfield office in July of last year during which she falsely denied setting up, managing or posting on the firetheliarjudge.com website.
- Identified herself as Madeline Dinmont, the operator of firetheliarjudge.com, in a telephone conversation with a GoDaddy representative in September of 2018 and arranged to pay for the website month-to-month, saying it wouldn’t be needed after the Nov. 5 general election.
- Made false statements about Gleeson to the GoDaddy representative, including, “You know, this part of the United States, politics is a blood sport. ... I mean, I will tell you how evil it is. They’ve attempted to set up another judge of a different political party for murder if that tells you anything. ... And this is the guy who orchestrated it.”
Judge Duebbert named in complaint
The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission complaint also mentions that former St. Clair County Judge Ron Duebbert allegedly was involved in the online anti-retention campaign against Gleeson.
It states that Lowery, while being questioned last year, told a commission administrator that Duebbert had asked her how to get a domain name and set up a website and that she provided information to him and his “web person” to help them out.
In January, the Illinois Courts Commission removed Duebbert from office after concluding that he lied to investigators in 2016 about his contact with his former roommate, David Fields, who was later acquitted of murder in the shooting death of Carl Silas.
Gleeson had limited Duebbert to administrative duties after learning of this connection to Fields.
After Lowery answers the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission complaint, attorneys from both sides will go through a discovery process before the case is considered by a Hearing Board panel made up of two attorneys and one non-attorney.
The panel will hear testimony and review other evidence before preparing a report and making a recommendation for disciplinary action to the Illinois Supreme Court.
“We usually like to hold a hearing within six months of the (complaint) filing,” Splitt said. “But it depends on how complicated the case is and how long it takes for discovery.”
Disciplinary action in such cases can range from censure to suspension to disbarment and depend on a variety of factors, including the extent of damage done to a judge, level of maliciousness or remorse and whether misconduct is part of a pattern, Splitt said.
A hearing would not be held if Lowery petitioned for discipline on consent, which is an admission that rules of professional conduct were violated. That could send the case straight to the Illinois Supreme Court for a decision.
The Justice for Kane anti-retention campaign was organized by Lori Friess in recognition of her 2-year-old grandson, Kane Friess-Wiley, who was killed in 2017. Friess was angry at Judge Cruse, who significantly reduced the bail of Gyasi Campbell, Kane’s mother’s former boyfriend. He had been charged with first-degree murder and was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the case.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
