Panel May Decide Fate Of Judge Sidelined Since Outburst
From the Chicago Sun-Times
A Cook County judge found not guilty by reason of insanity after being charged with attacking a sheriff’s deputy will go before a rarely convened judicial panel on Friday — a hearing that could ultimately decide her future on the bench.
The seven-member Illinois Courts Commission will hear a professional complaint against Judge Cynthia Brim, who collects a $184,000 a year judge’s salary and was re-elected but has not worked since her March 2012 meltdown.
The complaint charges that Brim violated decorum requirements, laid out in the state judicial code, when she made racially charged remarks in a Markham courtroom. Later, she marched into the Daley Center, clad in a fur coat and surgical scrubs, allegedly shoved a deputy and threw a set of keys at him.
“She was off her medication for a period of time and was a little exasperated,” said William J. Harte, a lawyer for Brim, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity last year.
Brim, who could not be reached for comment, said in a legal filing in September 2013 that she does not dispute the various accounts of her behavior. But the filing also states that she can’t recall the alleged attack of the deputy.
Harte said Brim, a judge for 18 years, was medically cleared and hopes for a favorable ruling so that she can return to work. She is willing to undergo supervision to ensure that she takes medication for bipolar schizoaffective disorder, he said.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Sun-Times
A Cook County judge found not guilty by reason of insanity after being charged with attacking a sheriff’s deputy will go before a rarely convened judicial panel on Friday — a hearing that could ultimately decide her future on the bench.
The seven-member Illinois Courts Commission will hear a professional complaint against Judge Cynthia Brim, who collects a $184,000 a year judge’s salary and was re-elected but has not worked since her March 2012 meltdown.
The complaint charges that Brim violated decorum requirements, laid out in the state judicial code, when she made racially charged remarks in a Markham courtroom. Later, she marched into the Daley Center, clad in a fur coat and surgical scrubs, allegedly shoved a deputy and threw a set of keys at him.
“She was off her medication for a period of time and was a little exasperated,” said William J. Harte, a lawyer for Brim, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity last year.
Brim, who could not be reached for comment, said in a legal filing in September 2013 that she does not dispute the various accounts of her behavior. But the filing also states that she can’t recall the alleged attack of the deputy.
Harte said Brim, a judge for 18 years, was medically cleared and hopes for a favorable ruling so that she can return to work. She is willing to undergo supervision to ensure that she takes medication for bipolar schizoaffective disorder, he said.
Read more in our daily News Update...