Judge again faces DUI charge after dismissal is reversed

Judge again faces DUI charge after dismissal is reversed


By Lisa Black and Robert McCoppin
Tribune reporters
5:04 PM CST, December 13, 2011

The drunken-driving case against Lake County’s former Chief Judge David Hall will return to trial court, but prosecutors will not be able to use blood evidence obtained during his hospitalization after the arrest, an appellate court has ruled.

Hall was cited for DUI and resisting a peace officer on April 26, 2008, after he was stopped in Vernon Hills for swerving and crossing the center line several times, officials said.

Hall was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after being pepper-sprayed by the police officer, who reported that the judge tried to roll up his window during the traffic stop.

Hall’s lawyer, Douglas Zeit, successfully challenged blood-alcohol findings and the hospital procedures involved in obtaining blood that the prosecution planned to use in its case, according to the Second District Appellate Court, which affirmed the trial court’s finding in a ruling released Tuesday.

“They can’t use that at all,” Zeit said Tuesday.

The appellate court reversed the trial court's decision to dismiss the DUI case, sending the case back to Lake County court. There, Kane County Judge Keith Brown will preside over the case, to avoid a potential conflict of interest in Lake County, where Hall continues to work as a judge.

The Illinois Attorney General’s office is handling the prosecution of the case, also to avoid a potential conflict of interest. with Lake County prosecutors.

Prosecutors previously said their case would be “substantially impaired” without the blood test indicating Hall had a blood-alcohol concentration of .107, above the legal threshold of .08.

In addition, if prosecutors do move forward with a trial, they will be without the person who would otherwise likely be the main witness, Vernon Hills Police Officer Jesse Goldsmith, who, according to the ruling, pepper-sprayed the judge and pulled him from his vehicle. Goldsmith died of a heart attack two months after arresting Hall.

Robyn Ziegler, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s office, said prosecutors are reviewing whether to pursue the case.

Hall stepped down as chief judge after his arrest.

Zeit, based in Waukegan, said he hasn’t talked to Hall about the appellate court's decision.

“He has felt, as we all did, the results of the blood were tainted and shouldn’t be used,” Zeit said.

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