Illinois Supreme Court picks replacement for removed St. Clair County judge Duebbert
The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday announced that it had picked a temporary replacement for former St. Clair County judge Ronald Duebbert, who was removed by the Illinois Courts Commission in January.
Attorney Bill D. Stiehl, Jr., a Belleville native, will take over as an at-large circuit judge from July 15, 2020, to Dec. 5, 2022.
“I like the idea of being in a position to help people from the bench,” Stiehl said Friday. “... I want people who appear before me to believe they had a fair opportunity to present their side. Whether they win or lose, I want them to feel like they were heard. That’s really important to me.”
Voters will select a long-term replacement in the November 2022 election. The elected replacement will begin serving at the end of Stiehl’s appointment.
Stiehl said he is planning to run as a Republican for the circuit judge position in 2022.
“As we have this conversation, yes, that is my intention,” Stiehl said.
Stiehl has previously served in a temporary appointment. He was appointed in 2018 to temporarily fill a resident circuit judge seat in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit after the death of Judge Robert LeChien. The Twentieth Judicial Circuit covers St. Clair, Monroe, Randolph, Washington and Perry counties.
New judge ‘has appeared in every courtroom in St. Clair County’
Stiehl has 36 years of experience in private practice and “has appeared in every courtroom in St. Clair County,” according to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The Illinois Supreme Court stated that he has worked on civil and criminal cases in state and federal courts through the Law Offices of William Stiehl, Jr. since 2011. And he spent 27 years at law firms in Belleville.
Stiehl said he thinks his experience in private practice is “a real advantage with regard to being a judge.”
“I have seen clients from all walks of life,” he said. “I have tried many cases involving many different issues. I know what it’s like to be in a courtroom. I know the pressures that practicing attorneys are under, and I will always be cognizant of that.”
His experience also includes working for the Land of Lincoln Legal Foundation. He began his career as a St. Clair County assistant public defender.
Stiehl studied at Vanderbilt University and Tulane University School of Law. He said his father, former U.S. District Judge William Stiehl, Sr., had an influence on his decision to become a lawyer. Stiehl, Sr., who died in 2016, started in private practice in Belleville in 1952.
Who helped pick Ron Duebbert’s short-term replacement?
Seven lawyers from southwestern Illinois made up a screening committee that considered applicants for the position, according to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Those lawyers included Don Bigham from Pinckneyville, Stephen Buser from Columbia, Paul Koeneman from Chester, William Norton from Sparta, Dawn Sallerson from Belleville, Mark Scoggins from Columbia and Tom Speedie from Nashville.
Chief Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier described the selection process as “particularly challenging” an the Illinois Supreme Court news release.
“The precautions required by the current health crisis, coupled with the high number of outstanding applicants, presented serious logistical challenges for the screening committee,” Karmeier stated. “I want to commend them for the outstanding job they did in assisting me and the court. Despite the obstacles, the process worked well, yielding a highly qualified nominee with a demonstrated ability to carry out the responsibilities of this important office.”
The coronavirus pandemic that affected the selection process may also affect trials for the beginning of Stiehl’s appointment.
“What’s a jury trial going to look like?” Stiehl said. “How are juries going to deliberate? ... Are you going to have jurors sitting right next to each other? I don’t know what the answer to that is.”
Duebbert’s removal by Courts Commission
The Illinois Courts Commission said it removed Duebbert from office after concluding he “demonstrated an utter disregard for the integrity and respect of the judiciary” by lying to police and Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board members.
The Courts Commission includes an Illinois Supreme Court judge, two appeals court judges, two circuit judges and two members of the public.
It received a complaint from the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board accusing Duebbert of lying about his contact with his former roommate, David E. Fields, in the days following the 2016 shooting death of Carl Z. Silas. In 2017, Fields was charged with murder, but he was eventually acquitted in 2018.
Police asked Duebbert in 2016 what contact he had with Fields. In court documents, Duebbert said he was shaken, feeling vulnerable and defensive and was not thinking clearly but that he “had no intention of misleading police.”
“Respondent’s behavior was repugnant to our truth seeking system of justice,” the Court Commission’s decision stated.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 1:07 PM.
