Cook County Public Defenders Blog

The union is pleased to inform the membership that the following laid off attorneys are being notified to present themselves for a physical exam so they can return to work and be recalled from layoff.  Those union members are:

Mychal Luther,

Christopher Nathan,

Loveleen Ahuja,

Roseanne Scarimbolo,

Takanya Nixon,

Jerry Byerly, and

Dolorita May.

If your name appears above and you have not been notified, please contact Mary Maldonado immediately in personnel. 

We expect the attorneys who pass the physical to start back to work on August 20, 2007.

The AFL-CIO is having a presidential candidate forum on Tuesday, August 7, 2007 at McCormick Place West.  Tickets are free but are going fast.  If you would like to attend, please call brother Paul Bellendir (HTF) at 773 869-6310 and leave your name, phone number, and email address on his voicemail.  The deadline is July 9, 2007 so please pick up the phone and call.  We would like at least fifty members to attend this forum as there is space for as many as 7000 attendees.  You cannot attend the event without a ticket.

        The union boat cruise has been shipwrecked

By Tim Leeming:

We have been told that our friend, former Assistant Public Defender, Ronald P. Alwin has passed away.  He retired from the office in 2003. 

His son, Scott Alwin has contacted our Office and informed us that services for the family will be at the Denzer Methodist Chuch, Saturday, May 26, 2007 in Denzer Wisconsin.  The Cook County legal community will organize a tribute to Ron later in the summer.

As you know, Ron’s charm and easy wit sometimes concealed his first-rate intellect.  He grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and received a scholarship which allowed him to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.  He devoted himself to criminal defense work and practiced at the Appeals Division for over 30 years.  He taught Legal Appellate Advocacy at Loyola Law School.  A quick search on Lexis indicates that Ron had 144 published cases in Illinois, and many hundreds of unpublished opinions.  His most recent “big” win was  People v. Steven Smith, 708 N.E.2d 365 (1999), perhaps the only death-penalty case ever reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court based on arguments concerning reasonable doubt.  The case was featured on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. 

Ron was a devoted attorney, a teacher, good company and a friend to many.  He is missed.

Here also is a link to the obituary in the Daily Law Bulletin. http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/news/gettoctext.cfm?TOCUID=22314337

The union expected some political hires in the office- even with the budget crisis and all the layoffs of bargaining unit members and firings of supervisors and support staff- but this is a little too much. Check out the story:

The following members had their notice of elections, which were mailed out in March, “returned to sender” because of bad addresses. If your name is on this list, then please contact personnel and update your address immediately. Thanks!

Iesheia Haynes

Terrence Watts

Joseph Stachler (currently laid off)

Quentin Banks

Theresa Nelson

Bertha Ribbeck

Monique Medley

Tiffin Price-Horton

Brian Scanlon

Rojelio Garza

Brett Balmer

David Colaric