FILED State of Illinois In the Circuit Court of tke Sixth Judicial Circuit MAY 01 2017 ‘County of Macon LOIS A. DI uy emedir ocean INRE: ) Appointment of Special Prosecutor) -—-No: 16 MR 865 ) 1 TION Tt DI i ;PECIAL PI NOW COME the People of the State of Illinois by Lisa Madigan, Attomey General, through her assistant, Stephen E. Plazibat, and hereby respectfully request that the Court authorize the Office of the Attomey General to decline our appointment as Special Prosecutor in the above caption case. In support thereof, the People state as follows: 1). On January 27, 2017, this Honorable Court entered an Order in which it requested that the Office of the Attorney General accept the Appointment of Special Prosecutor in this matter. 2). The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has carefully reviewed the Petition for Special Prosecutor, along with the attached affidavits, to determine if our office suffers from a conflict of interest, or whether our service as Special Prosecutor may create an appearance of impropriety. 3). Additionally, the Attorney General's Office has carefully reviewed our current and recent caseload in Macon County, to determine if the circumstances surrounding those prosecutions create a conflict or an appearance of impropriety should we accept the appointed. 4), Pursuant to the Attomey General Act, 15 ILCS 205/4, the Illinois Attorney General has various statutory duties related to the duties of the various State’s Attorneys. The Attorney General’s jurisdiction for the performance of those duties comes from the authorization and consent of the various States Attomeys. An investigation of the Macon County State’s Attomey will have a chilling effect on the performance of our statutory duties in Macon County, since our criminal jurisdiction is derived by the approval of the State’s Attomey. 5). The Illinois Attorney General’s Office currently has 12 cases pending in Macon County. Eleven of those cases are Sexually Violent Persons petitions that are prosecuted by the Criminal Enforcement Division of the Attomey General's Office. The Criminal EnforcementDivision has had an active case load of Sexually Violent Persons cases in Macon County since 1998 when the Sexually Violent Persons Act was first enacted. The Attorney General's Office ‘works closely with the Macon County State’s Attorney's Office on those cases, and receives invaluable logistical support from them, Two Mecon County Assistant State’s Attomeys that we ‘work closely with on SVP cases, are listed by name in affidavits filed in support of Petition for ‘Special Prosecutor. Both ASA’s can fairly be characterized as witnesses or persons of interest, if the allegations contained in the petition are accurate. We believe that for our office to conduct an. investigation that necessarily will involved these, and other members of the State’s Attorney's Office, will have a detrimental effect on the cooperative relationships between the offices on current and future prosecutions. For the foregoing reasons, the Illinois Attomey General's Office believes that a conflict, or at a minimum, an appearance of impropriety, can be alleged, if our office were to accept the court’s request to serve as Special Prosecutor in this matter. For that reason, we respectfully request that this Honorable Court authorize the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to decline the request. Respectfully Submitted, StepheyE. Plazivat Deputy Attomey General Criminal Justice 100 West Randolph Street 12 Floor Chicago, Iinois 60601 312/814-5023, Page 2of 2