A Jacksonville-based attorney is taking on an incumbent for State’s Attorney in Cass County. Private practice lawyer Carrie Magerl is vying for the Democrat nomination in the primary coming up on March 17th.
Magerl moved her family to Cass County last year, but continues to practice law in several West Central Illinois counties as a private practice lawyer and public defender. When Magerl returned to Central Illinois in October 2009, she began working for McClure, Thomas & Thomas before opening her own practice in April 2015 in Jacksonville. She is currently a member of the Illinois DCFS Statewide Adoption Attorney Panel.
Magerl says that she wants to bring a few changes with communication to the State’s Attorney’s office. “I foresee a little more use of technology to improve some efficiency. There have been some issues with subpoenas getting out, for example, to officers. I would like to see that changed.”
Magerl says public relations also need to be improved. “I think it’s important to have that office staffed all the time. I know there were some issues that were a little bit out of John’s hands earlier in the year. It would be nice to see people get returned phone calls in a bit more timely manner. That would certainly be on my radar [as a priority] to establish and keep a better working relationship with the public and the local media.”
Magerl says that she’s going to work all angles to ensure that the citizens of Cass County will be safe from criminals and criminals will get necessary rehabilitation. “Plea deals can be a very effective tool to ensure that, when you have a weak case, there is some culpability. There were times that I know that [retired] Judge [Bob] Hardwick liked to see plea deals and liked to use probation as a means to ensure perpetrators got the rehabilitation services that they needed. I think plea deals have a place but there is certainly a need to get many of these people off the streets and out of the community. There’s a time that these cases need to be tried in court.”
Either Alvarez or Magerl will face off against Republican challenger Craig Miller, who currently is an Assistant State’s Attorney in Morgan County in the General Election in November.