Macon County on hook for sexual offender confinement petition legal bills

11-25-2010 Illinois:

DECATUR - Macon County officials face a dilemma of how to pay for the legal representation and medical evaluation sexually violent parolees are entitled to as they battle rulings that keep them confined until they successfully complete sex offender treatment.

Ronald K. Jones, 51, of Decatur is opposing a petition by the Illinois Attorney General's Office, and the Fourth District Appellate Court has vacated Macon County Circuit Court Judge Lisa Holder White's appointments of a Macon County public defender and then the Office of the State Appellate Defender to represent him because neither is allowed to handle civil matters.

As a result, Associate Judge Timothy Steadman on Tuesday presented the county board's Justice Committee with a bill for $2,079 from attorney Monica Hawkins for her representation of Jones on his latest appeal.

Steadman said there is no money in the circuit court budget to pay the bill and that the court system has "virtually no control over how many of these petitions are filed."

Steadman and Presiding Judge A.G. Webber also told the committee that a case involving Kim Alan Overlin is in the pipeline.

Jones was sentenced to four years in prison on a conviction of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse in 1992 and eight years in prison for aggravated criminal sexual assault with a victim under age 13 in 1994.

Kim Allan Overlin, 58, of Decatur, convicted of sexual abuse of children three times since 1979, has been fighting to be released from a state facility for sexual predators for more than 12 years.

Steadman said he's seen a decrease in petitions for post-parole confinement, which now involve 15 or fewer Macon County offenders annually, and that many offenders do not fight the petition.

The judges said the state's attorney's office can file similar petitions, but the state is the petitioner in both the Jones and Overlin cases.

Decatur Democrat Jay Dunn, who is chairman of the county board and its Finance Committee, said a resolution for a budget amendment would have to be approved by the board before such bills could be paid.

Justice Committee member Bill Oliver, D-Decatur, wondered aloud if the county's judgment fund would be a proper source for payment.

In other business Tuesday, the committee passed a resolution increasing appropriations for the Probation Department by $15,000 to evaluate juvenile sex offenders for the Macon County Mental Health Board.

The measure goes to the board's Finance Committee on Monday and to the full board Dec. 9. ..Source.. Theresa Churchill