The Joe Birkett Resouce Center

	Welcome to The Joe Birkett Resource Center

Joe Birkett takes large loans and contributions from defense attorneys who negotiate plea bargains with his office day in and day out, creating an obvious conflict of interest. A firm that loaned Birkett $100,000 boasts that it is "located directly across from the Court House" and has “the knowledge and ability to conduct very favorable plea negotiations.”

“During the last year, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett has received more than $50,000 in campaign contributions and another $110, 000 in loans from criminal defense attorneys and firms that cut plea bargains with his office,” A Look at Key Names on Birkett’s Campaign Donor List, Rich Miller, Daily Southtown, 9/2/02 (http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/miller/x08-mlr1.htm)

“At issue is Mr. Birkett’s practice of regularly accepting donations from attorneys who want to get the best possible deals for their clients from prosecutors who work for Mr. Birkett,” Lawyers Ante Up For Birkett, Crain’s Chicago Business, 8/26/02

“Three defense attorneys who contributed or loaned money to Birkett’s election fund were able to broker seemingly light sentences for their clients, including one defendant who attacked and pushed his wife into a fire in 1999 but served only 34 days in jail and 30 months’ probation,” Madigan Allies Bash Rival on Abuse, Copley News Service, 8/29/02

“Birkett insists that he sees no inherent conflicts of interest in taking money from lawyers who represent ready-to-confess criminals, even though most other Chicago-area state’s attorney’s accept very few dollars from those people,” A Look at Key Names on Birkett’s Campaign Donor List, Rich Miller, Daily Southtown, 9/2/02 (http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/miller/x08-mlr1.htm)

“Mr. Birkett’s campaign committee received a $100,000 loan from the lead partner in a Wheaton law firm that boasts in promotional literature that it is "located directly across from the Court House" and has "the knowledge and ability to conduct very favorable plea negotiations,” Lawyers Ante Up For Birkett, Crain’s Chicago Business, 8/26/02

Critics have blasted Birkett for his record on domestic violence. After a man who tried to burn his wife hired a big Birkett contributor to defend him, Birkett’s office agreed to a plea deal that gave the man just 34 days time served and no prison time. The victim said she was "betrayed" by Birkett's office.

“In one case, a man whose wife was hospitalized with second-degree burns after he repeatedly threw her into a fire was sentenced to time already served and probation — not prison time — in a deal struck with the office by his attorney, whose firm had donated $3,100 to Mr. Birkett in the past year and $8,300 since 1998. The victim claims she was “betrayed” by the office,” Lawyers Ante Up For Birkett, Crain’s Chicago Business, 8/26/02

“Dawn Cavagnetto [is] a DuPage woman who suffered second degree burns and was hospitalized after being attacked by her husband, William Stoltz, in the garage of the family home on New Year’s Eve 1999. Mr. Stoltz hired prominent defense attorney John Donahue, whose firm has donated $3,100 to Mr. Birkett in the past year and $8,300 since 1998. In a plea deal, prosecutors dropped the attempted first-degree murder charge against Mr. Stoltz, who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and agreed not to contest a charge of arson, according to court documents. A judge ended up giving Mr. Stoltz 30 months probation, but no prison time beyond the 34 days in jail Mr. Stoltz had served before posting bond,” Birkett Plea Sets Off Firestorm, Crain’s Chicago Business, 8/28/02

“A few weeks ago, a woman whose husband tried to murder her complained that Birkett's office had bullied her into agreeing to a ridiculously light jail sentence. The husband was represented by one of Birkett's campaign contributors. Birkett's office claimed the woman was mistaken. But the more stories I hear, the more I'm starting to think that maybe there’s something truly wrong with the way Birkett’s shop is run. It’s not just the good ol’ boys looking out for each other. It's the good ol' boys making sure the women don’t win,” More Details Emerge on Birkett Adviser's Battle with Ex-Wife, Rich Miller, Daily Southtown, 9/15/02 (http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/miller/x15-mlr1.htm)

A close Birkett advisor, Terry Ekl, is accused of physically attacking his wife, landing her in the emergency room, covered in blood. Birkett’s office refused to help Ekl’s wife seek increased child support payments from Ekl, claiming it had a conflict of interest.

“For years, Carrie Gammell has been trying to convince a disinterested press corps to cover her battle with the DuPage County powers that be….. She was the woman who was married to Joe Birkett's former campaign manager, Terry Ekl….Birkett’s office declared a conflict of interest, rather than help Gammell increase her child support payments from Ekl. . . . Ekl allegedly physically attacked [Gammell] so forcefully that she had to go to the hospital. And . . . Ekl was never charged with a crime, allegedly after a top employee of the state’s attorney’s office and a local police chief talked Gammell out of filing a formal complaint while she sat in the emergency room, covered in blood. Ekl claims to this day that he meant to throw an object at a wall and hit her by mistake.” More Details Emerge on Birkett Adviser's Battle with Ex-Wife, Rich Miller, Daily Southtown, 9/15/02 (http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/miller/x15-mlr1.htm)

Joe Birkett was in charge of the attorneys that prosecuted Rolando Cruz for the third time, attempting to send an innocent man to death row and bringing the Illinois system of justice into disrepute. Birkett is specifically accused of feeding a false story intended to frame Cruz to a witness, then threatening to jail the witness if he did not sign a statement containing the false story. After Cruz was acquitted for the third and final time, Birkett received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions and loans from attorneys who represented law enforcement officials accused of framing Cruz.

“Birkett was serving as chief of the office’s criminal division in 1995 during Cruz’s third trial.” Role DuPage State's Attorney Played, Daily Herald, 2/24/02.

“Mr. Schmitt stated that First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Birkett and Detective Warren Wilkosz had come to his home one evening and had aggressively threatened to arrest Mr. Schmitt for withholding evidence unless Mr. Schmitt agreed to sign a statement reporting that Mr. Cruz had confessed to him in the County Jail. . . . Mr. Schmitt told Mr. Birkett and Detective Wilkosz that such a statement would be a lie, but Mr. Birkett and Detective Wilkosz insisted that he write a statement and fed him the information to include. Based on Mr. Schmitt's account, the trial judge ruled that no evidence about Mr. Schmitt's statement to Mr. Birkett and Detective Wilkosz could be admitted at the third trial.” Clemency Petition of Rolando Cruz, 9/18/02 (http://ericzorn.com/extra/cruz/)

“Steve Schmitt, 26, a northwest suburban tool-and-die maker, answered the door of his apartment early on the evening of July 21, 1994, and found a DuPage County sheriff's detective and an assistant state's attorney wanting to talk to him. . . . Schmitt said the prosecutor, Joe Birkett, and the detective, Warren Wilkosz . . . . said, 'If you won't give a statement, you could get arrested for withholding evidence’. . . . The result was a damning piece of new evidence: A one-page, signed statement from a jailhouse snitch saying Cruz spontaneously admitted to having been a go-along observer as Brian Dugan committed the horrible crime, and that Cruz said he later told authorities what had happened but disguised his account as a dream or vision. . . . What may seem striking about this statement is how perfectly it met DuPage County's new needs: In overturning Cruz's [second] conviction, the state high court had said that in his [third] trial . . . the jury or judge would be allowed for the first time to consider the compelling criminal history of serial rapist and murderer Brian Dugan, the man who has long said he alone committed the Nicarico crime and whose DNA puts him among the 1 in 3,333 men who could have raped the girl. The statement also bolstered the undocumented and highly dubious police accounts of Cruz's alleged vision statement. . . . And what seems downright ordinary by now is Schmitt's claim that he altered his testimony under pressure from those determined to convict Rolando Cruz.” Latest Recantation in Cruz Case Sows New Seeds of Doubt, Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune, 10/11/95 (http://www.ericzorn.com/columns/nicarico/page2.html).

“And among those officials who were not indicted in the [DuPage 7] case, but were accused by a witness of suborning perjury against Cruz, was Joe Birkett himself,” Chicago Tribune, 6/2/98.

“Back in 1998, the Elmhurst Press looked at contributions and loans to Birkett from attorneys representing the DuPage 7 - sheriff's deputies and former prosecutors who were charged with criminal conspiracy for allegedly “railroading” Rolando Cruz for murder.
According to the paper, Birkett accepted over $31,000 in campaign contributions from the “D7” defense lawyers, plus another $10,000 no-interest loan from Terry Ekl, who represented Cruz’s lead prosecutor. Birkett lobbied the DuPage County Board hard to pay the seven defendants’ legal bills, and, according to the newspaper, some on the board saw “potential ethics problems” with Birkett’s actions,” Rich Miller, Capitol Fax, 9/10/02

During the criminal prosecution of the DuPage prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies for misconduct in the Nicarico case, Mr. Birkett repeatedly called for the County Board to pay millions to the defendants’ criminal attorneys to cover their legal fees. The trial judge handling the fees matter found that Mr. Birkett had a conflict of interest on this issue and entered two court orders explicitly prohibiting him from representing the County on all matters relating to the DuPage 7 prosecution and from communicating with the County Board or appearing in Court on behalf of the County, either personally or through his assistants or special assistants, on the issue of paying defense fees.

Despite these clear orders, Mr. Birkett continued to appear in court and advocate for the County Board to pay the multi-million dollar fees. His conduct prompted the 2nd District Appellate Court to strike his appearance in an appeal relating to the fees issue and to state:

“State’s Attorney Joe Birkett has and continues to have a conflict of interest but continues to inject himself into matters concerning the criminal defense fees issue. State’s Attorney Birkett personally, and through his assistants, has openly and repeatedly failed to comply with the trial court’s orders. . . . Accordingly, we admonish State’s Attorney Birkett, personally and through his assistants, to adhere to his ethical obligation and to obey the trial court’s orders by not participating any further, either directly or indirectly, in the prohibited matters.” Maio v. Jegen, No. 97-MR-47 (Ill. App. 2nd Dist., Sept. 22, 1998).

Joe Birkett is an extremist on the death penalty, insisting against all evidence to the contrary that Illinois has the “fairest system of capital punishment in the nation.”

“I know that we have the fairest system of capital punishment in the nation,” Birkett said. “I think it is time to move on with capital punishment,” Birkett Wants to Resume Executions, Daily Herald, 11/02/01.

“It does not take a moratorium to accomplish reform. No innocent person has been executed in this country in the last 100 years and with the additional safeguards already in place, that will never happen,” Seek Meaningful Reform, by Joe Birkett, Daily Herald, 8/6/00.

Joe Birkett invites crime victims to political fundraisers, raising questions about his judgment and sensitivity to the plight of crime victims.

“After representing crime victims and their families in court, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett has asked dozens of those same people to join him at his political fund-raisers. The practice has raised questions about whether the Republican attorney general candidate is, in the words of one murder victim’s mother, ‘using a tragedy and using it to his benefit,’” Birkett asks crime victims to fund-raisers, Sun-Times, 9/17/02

“In March, the GOP DuPage County state’s attorney asked his director of victim services while off-duty to invite some 50 victims and family members to a $75-a-plate fund-raiser. About 30 attended for free, but Jacalyn Arnold, mother of slain Addison resident Debra Evans, said she found it distasteful that he was ‘using a tragedy and using it to his benefit.’ ‘The only reason they had my name was the circumstances we were in. And I didn't want them to use our family's tragedy to gain political advantages,’ the Bourbonnais woman said,” Some Question Candidate’s Use Of Crime Victims, The Associated Press, 9/17/02

“Attorney general candidate Joe Birkett promised new rules on campaign donations Thursday but is not applying them to money he has accepted from a party leader under investigation….[Birkett] said he will not return money from Illinois House Minority Leader Lee Daniels, who stepped down as Republican Party chairman in July. Federal investigators are looking into whether Daniel’s legislative staffers worked political campaigns on state time in 2000,” Birkett Refuses to Return Money From Daniels Despite Pledge, Associated Press 9/06/02

“At the same time he was signing the “clean campaign” pledge, the DuPage County state's attorney said he would not return thousands of dollars in campaign cash he's received from former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Lee Daniels. Daniels is under federal investigation for possibly directing state workers to do campaign work.” ‘Clean Campaign’ Pledge Signed, but Cash Staying, Bloomington Pantagraph, 9/06/02

“Republican attorney general nominee Joe Birkett vowed Thursday not to accept campaign contributions from anyone “under major investigation,” but he intended to keep $32,000 from a top GOP leader whose office is the subject of a federal probe,” Birkett Won’t Return Daniels’ Donations, Sun-Times, 9/06/02

Joe Birkett will say anything to get elected. He told his conservative supporters that he opposes House Bill 101, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, then told the gay community, he “would not stand in the way” of the same bill. He showed up at a Gay Pride event, then told his conservative supporters he was not there, then assured the gay community he really was there!

Birkett told his conservative supporters that he opposes House Bill 101, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation . . .

The Illinois Family Institute asked Illinois statewide office candidates if they support or oppose “Adding sexual orientation to the existing Human Rights Act whereby homosexuals, bisexuals and transvestites would be granted protected-minority status (2001-HB101),” referring to Illinois House Bill 101. Joe Birkett responded: OPPOSE. Illinois Family Institute Voter Guide (http://www.illinoisfamily.org/vg-statewide.asp)

"’Just last week I spoke to Mike O'Donnell, Birkett's executive aide, who told me that Birkett and his opponent were on opposite sides of the gay agenda. She [Madigan] supports gay rights and he [Birkett] opposes them.’” Tribune Reports Birkett at Gay Parade – Campaign Denies Story, Illinois Leader (quoting Kathy Valente, State Director of Concerned Women for America) (www.illinoisleader.com/printer/article.asp?c=1200)

Then Birkett told the gay community he “would not stand in the way” of House Bill 101

According to Joe Birkett’s communications director, Birkett “wouldn't stand in the way” of House Bill 101 if and when the bill comes up for a vote in the legislature. Birkett’s Attendance at Pride Parade Stirs Controversy, Chicago Free Press, 7/31/2002 (http://www.outinstlouis.com/home/news.asp?articleid=2726)

As if those contradictory statements were not enough, Birkett showed up at a Gay Pride Parade event . . .

“Illinois state Sen. Lisa Madigan (D-Chicago) and DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett (R), went looking for [gay and lesbian] votes in Lakeview. Madigan rode her own float to widespread crowd approval, while Birkett attended [Equality Illinois’] traditional pre-parade reception at SideTrack but didn’t appear in the parade,” In Pride, Politicians, Candidates Show Their True Colors, Chicago Free Press, 7/3/02

“The Chicago Tribune reported today that Attorney General candidates Democrat Lisa Madigan and Republican Joe Birkett both participated in the Gay Pride parade on Sunday. But the Birkett campaign insists that their candidate wasn't there . . . . John Hoffman, campaign manager for Birkett, said this morning, 'Joe Birkett was not at the parade yesterday. There were supporters there, carrying banners for Joe Birkett, but Joe himself was not there.’” ” Tribune Reports Birkett at Gay Parade – Campaign Denies Story, Illinois Leader (quoting Kathy Valente, State Director of Concerned Women for America) (www.illinoisleader.com/printer/article.asp?c=1200)

“Officials with Republican Joe Birkett's campaign for Illinois attorney general bristled at allegations by Stonewall Democrats Chicago last week that Birkett, speaking to the right-wing Concerned Women for America, denied he attended Chicago's Pride parade June 30 . . . . ‘No, of course he's not denying that,’ [Birkett Communications Director Steve] Binder said.” Birkett’s Attendance at Pride Parade Stirs Controversy, Chicago Free Press, 7/31/2002 (http://www.outinstlouis.com/home/news.asp?articleid=2726)