A sexual assault conviction that was thrown out by a now-removed Adams County Judge may get a rehearing in the near future. Adams County State’s Attorney Gary Farha says he is taking steps to put the Drew Clinton sexual assault case back on the docket after speaking with the State Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, according to Muddy River News.
Farha says he is exploring a mechanism to get the 18 year old Clinton’s reversed conviction back in front of a judge, after Adams County Judge Robert Adrian threw his initial conviction of Clinton out on January 3rd. Adrian and the decision to throw out the October 15th conviction drew national ire and criticism, eventually causing Adrian to be removed from criminal trials and cases in the 8th Judicial Circuit.
Farha also speculated that the Illinois Supreme Court may act on the case. According to the report, chief deputy director at the State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office in Springfield David Robinson has spoken with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul about the case.
According to the report, Adrian has not returned to the Adams County Courthouse since Chief Judge of the 8th Circuit, J. Frank McCartney issued an order that Adrian would no longer hear criminal cases moving forward. McCartney issued the order after Adrian threw Josh Jones, lead trial attorney for the Adams County State’s Attorney’s office, out of his courtroom on January 12th for a “comment” Jones recently made on social media on a Facebook post made by the Quincy Area Network Against Domestic Abuse.
In an open letter published Tuesday, Quanada’s Executive Director Megan Duesterhaus called for the Illinois Eight Circuit Court to remove Judge Robert Adrian from the criminal docket and demanded his resignation from the bench. An online petition asking for Adrian’s censure, suspension, and/or removal from his position in the 8th Circuit has now garnered over 28,000 signatures.