Kane County ain’t ready for reform. – Jeff Ward
Before we get started, please let me clarify that the Kane County bond reform test run we covered in a recent two-part series is still in the planning stage. So, this complete f**k up on the part of Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser and particularly 16th Circuit Judge Divya Sarang, had absolutely nothing to do with the new program.
That said, if this bizarre iteration of blatant bond call incompetency we’re about to examine is any indication of what’s to come, it doesn’t bode too terribly well for the reform future.
We need to start the story at the end because, despite being charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault with underage girls in Lasalle County, and six counts of criminal sexual assault for raping a woman at an Elburn party, 22-year-old Yorkville resident Reginald B. Terry remains a free man.
And that’s particularly difficult to fathom when you consider those charges require consecutive, not concurrent sentences, that quickly add up to 30 to 107 years in the slammer.
The proximate cause for Terry’s amazing good fortune is Kane County’s worst judge, Divya Sarang, inexplicably released him on his own recognizance. To put that in perspective, I had to pay more bail for a bullshit disorderly conduct charge. And while the lion’s share of the culpability for this sad and dangerous scenario rests with Sarang, there’s more than enough blame to go around.
Because this mess started with the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office bond call prosecutor who utterly failed to do his or her homework. Instead of preforming the more thorough search these kinds of felony charges demand, the ASA relied on the notoriously inaccurate LEADS (Law Enforcement Agency Data System) that failed to list Terry’s LaSalle County charges.
Worse yet, insiders are telling me that despite those six Kane County class 1 felony charges, the ASA failed to ask the judge for a cash bond.
This inexcusable lapse starts with State’s Attorney Mosser’s abject refusal to hold anyone in her office accountable for anything. Mosser is so desperate to be liked that the inmates quickly realized they can run the asylum, and now an alleged rapist is walking the streets as a result of her inability to lead on any level.
This isn’t nearly the only terrifying example of the State’s Attorney’s inability to get it right, but we’ll cover how she single handedly undermined a two-year chronic drunk driving case in another column.
Mosser’s inability to take responsibility is compounded by her fully embracing the progressive notion that every minority offender is redeemable “if they only had a chance,” so while she hammers white misdemeanor domestic violence offenders, multiple felony minorities go straight into diversion programs.
I would encourage Ms. Mosser to take a few days off to truly consider whether she’s really a prosecutor or a defense attorney.
But even if that ASA failed to ask for a cash bond, which I believe to be the case, considering those six separate Kane County felony counts, there’s absolutely no excuse for Sarang to release Terry on his own recognizance. Every attorney with whom I’ve discussed this case told me that bond should been set somewhere between $150,000 to $200,000.
So, while terry easily posted the required ten percent of the $35,000 LaSalle bond, coming up with another 15 to 20 grand to walk out of the Kane County Jail would’ve been an entirely different story. So, why did Judge Sarang do something this blitheringly callous, stupid, and dangerous?
Because as we previously noted, Divya Sarang, without question, is the worst judge in Kane County. And that’s really saying something in a circuit that boasts nitwits like John Dalton, Mike Noland, Joe Grady, Sandra Parga and Kevin Busch. To be fair, Dalton is actually far worse than Sarang, but that’s because he’s a sociopath. Sarang can’t claim that kind of mitigation, so it gives her sole possession of last place.
Her innumerable issues start with an ego that makes Donald Trump look like Fred Rogers. She relentlessly brags about herself during court proceedings and shamelessly uses the bench to promote herself and career so much so that local attorneys regularly refer to her as “The Princess of India.”
But it’s Sarang’s capacity to use the bench as a bully pulpit to persistently berate and belittle defendants that sets this poor excuse for a judge (and a human being) apart from the others. And she does this because she knows no one can do anything to stop her. Sarang is particularly hard on juvenile defendants – even those who’ve displayed vast improvement. It’s the kind of baseless verbal abuse that sets these kids’ progress back for years.
Having been made aware of the additional Kane County charges by a prosecutor who actually did his job, when Terry appeared before LaSalle County Judge Cynthia Raccuglia she asked, “Why isn’t he in custody?” To which the ASA replied, “A Kane County judge released him on his own recognizance.”
The LaSalle prosecutor did ask for a higher bond, but even though Raccuglia noted that she was “disgusted” by the terms of Terry’s release, she refused to up the ante correctly noting that she has no jurisdiction over another county’s bond call. So, the “legend” of Divya Sarang has grown beyond Kane County, though perhaps not quite in the way she intended.
Finally catching on to her office’s inexcusable error, Mosser filed a motion to increase that bond, but since it wasn’t an emergency motion, it won’t be heard until Terry’s next court date in front of Judge John Barsanti on April 22. Until then, you might want to keep an eye on your daughters, Kane County.
The reason Mosser refused to file an emergency bond motion is she has a persistent tendency to blame her failings on those 16th Circuit judges. It would seem her lack of accountability dynamic extends to herself first. And as you might imagine, that deflection tactic doesn’t sit well with the men and women in black, and only serves to make her life that much more difficult.
So, even though any judge would likely grant the emergency motion, they’d first take the opportunity to appropriately tear Mosser and the ASA a new one, and our poor delicate State’s Attorney couldn’t possibly bear the thought of enduring that. Put more simply, protecting her fragile ego is far more important than keeping your daughters safe from this alleged rapist, so Terry is still a free man.
Welcome to bond reform, Kane County!
Judge Sarang is one of the least knowledgeable judges in the position she is in now in foreclosure court. She has not taken any time to learn about her new responsibilities and the nuances of foreclosures!
She is allowing homes to be foreclosed by lenders who have NO OWNERSHIP perfected rights in the loans that they are foreclosing…She is a total dolt!
She is also lazy as I notices that on many days she does not schedule court on mondays and before holidays and after,,,,
She is a DIVERSITY appointment and knows that she can get away with nonsense as she has NO COURT REPORTER assigned to her courtroom…so there is literally no record other than the orders agreed to by the lawyers!
She is everything that the judiciary is bad about!
Incompetent jurist and failure to abide and know the LAW she is interpreting!
Let’s get this person out of that important court room…gather up your comments and start writing the Chief judge!