Judge Duebbert sues St. Clair County, state over charges that were dropped
St. Clair County Judge Ronald Duebbert is suing the county and the state of Illinois in federal court for $10 million for being prosecuted on charges that were eventually dropped.
Duebbert, a Republican, was charged with criminal sexual abuse and intimidation of a former client. Those charges were dropped about a year ago.
He faced two felonies and two misdemeanors after a 26-year-old man accused Duebbert, who was then his lawyer, of fondling his genitals and offering to reduce his legal fees by $100 if the man performed oral sex. The man said it happened in Duebbert’s law office in the days before Duebbert defeated then-Chief Judge John Baricevic in an election.
Duebbert is suing for malicious prosecution, depriving his due process, failing to intervene, depriving his constitutional rights, civil conspiracy, and infliction emotional distress.
In the lawsuit, Duebbert says Belleville Police personnel did not follow proper procedure, and fabricated evidence.
The lawsuit names St. Clair County and the State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutors office, which provided a special prosecutor in Duebbert’s case. It also names the state of Illinois, the City of Belleville, as well as former St. Clair County State’s Attorney, Brendan Kelly, special prosecutors Lorinda Lamken-Finnel and David Robinson, a Belleville Police Department detectives, and Alex Enyart, who was the attorney for the man who accused Duebbert. The accuser also is named.
“Many persons in St. Clair County, Illinois were not happy that Duebbert defeated … Baricevic,” the lawsuit states. “Among those persons opposed to … Duebbert’s election as a circuit judge, and both before and after his election, were politically powerful persons who engaged in concerted efforts to find any way to either keep Duebbert from becoming a circuit judge or remaining as the duly elected circuit judge, those efforts including but not limited to manufacturing false allegations of criminal behavior against Duebbert.”
The Belleville Police Department and Enyart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Kelly was state’s attorney, he asked for a special prosecutor to come in to decide whether obstruction-of-justice charges should be filed against Duebbert in connection with a murder case.
The special prosecutor ultimately filed the sexual abuse and intimidation charges against Duebbert. St. Clair County prosecutors have also filed complaints against Duebbert in front of the Judicial Inquiry Board.
“It would be clearly improper to comment while Judge Duebbert’s case is pending before the Judicial Inquiry Board and while any civil matters involving my former office are pending,” said Kelly, who is now the acting director of the state police.
Patrick Delfino, the director of the state’s attorney appellate prosecutor’s office, said the office had no comment on the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, “Duebbert’s reputation has been defamed and damaged severely, and he has been traumatized by the false accusations which formed the basis of the four count felony criminal information.”
Duebbert has been on administrative duties since Dec. 30, 2016 — about three weeks after he took the bench.
This story was originally published July 3, 2019 at 10:19 AM.
