Chief judge calls for more traffic court security; says future incident a question of when, not if
The chief judge of a suburban county in the Chicago area says better security is needed in its satellite traffic courts to prevent judges from being targeted by disgruntled defendants.
Speaking during a Tuesday budget discussion, DuPage County Chief Judge Kathryn Creswell said at least one of the four courts should be moved to a safer location, reports the Daily Herald.
“It’s not a question of if it’s going to happen,” she told the county board’s judicial and public safety committee. “It’s a question of when.”
Currently, a single sheriff’s deputy is assigned to each satellite court. Citing the cost of adding additional deputies and installing metal detectors, some board members implied that it might make more sense to close the satellite traffic courts and move all cases to the main courthouse, which already has enhanced security.
Creswell herself was stalked by a suburban Chicago man who was sentenced last year to six years in prison. John Euwema pleaded guilty after admitting that he had sent a package to the judge’s home anonymously in July 2013, while he was facing a felony traffic case in her courtroom, the newspaper reports.
Also in July 2013 another man, Gordon Vanderark, was sentenced to 40 years for soliciting the murder of a different DuPage judge, a prosecutor and two other people. The government said he targeted the judge because she had sentenced him to a 16-year prison term after Vanderark was convicted, for the 10th time, of driving under the influence.
The plot came to light when another inmate wrote the targeted judge and warned her. He wore a wire to help the government obtain evidence in the murder-solicitation case against Vanderark.
