The Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board has filed disciplinary complaints against three judges, including Cook County Judges William Raines and Mohammed Ghouse.
The Board announced its filings in separate June 17 releases, continuing a process that begins with public complaints, setting the stage for an Illinois Courts Commission review in order to determine possible discipline.
With respect to Judge Raines, the Board investigated a complaint concerning conduct after a Jan. 11 post-conviction hearing that took place via video conference. The judge, “while still on the bench, mistakenly believed that the livestream had ended and initiated a conversation with two assistant state’s attorneys and a public defender,” according to the release. “Through the course of that conversation, (Raines) made derogatory, injudicious and demeaning statements about two attorneys who had appeared before him that day.”
According to the complaint, Raines disparaged attorney Jennifer Bonjean, representing the person seeking relief, for having her “glasses off, fingers through her hair, the phone’s going all over the place. It’s insane.” He allegedly called Bonjean’s behavior “entertaining” and said, “Can you imagine waking up to her every day? Oh my God.” Regarding Bonjean’s colleague, Samuel Kennedy, Raines allegedly said, “That’s her man child.” Raines has been a circuit court judge since 2014.
The complaint against Judge Ghouse, a Cook County associate circuit court judge since 2016, stems from a Nov. 23, 2021, incident in which he allegedly drove a car into the rear of a parked vehicle. The Board said a responding Hinsdale police officer “smelled a strong odor of alcohol” on Ghouse during questioning and noticed his “eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and he was swaying back and forth.”
The complaint further alleged Ghouse refused a field sobriety test before being placed under arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision. Ghouse also was said to have refused a Breathalyzer test at the police station. Ghouse pleaded guilty to the DUI charge on Feb. 18, 2022, after which he was placed on a year of court supervision, fined $1,500 and ordered to complete a DUI monitoring program.
Ghouse was suspended from hearing cases in November.
Also implicated in the filings is Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Robert Adrian, who has been on the bench since 2010. The complaint alleges Adrian, after presiding over a three-day criminal sexual assault trial in October 2021, refused to issue the statutory minimum sentence despite finding the defendant guilty.
“That is not just,” Adrian allegedly said in January. “There is no way for what happened in this case that this teenager should go to the Department of Corrections. I will not do that.”
Although Adrian allegedly said he could find the applicable sentencing statute to be unconstitutional as applied in this case, he then predicted an appellate court would reverse such a ruling and ultimately place the defendant in state prison.
The defendant, Adrian allegedly said, “has served almost five months in the county jail, 148 days. For what happened in this case, that is plenty of punishment. That would be a just sentence. But the court can’t do that.”
Adrian then vacated his prior finding of guilt and released the defendant, an action the Inquiry Board alleged “was prejudicial to the administration of justice and brought his judicial office into disrepute.”
The board also accused Adrian of ordering from his courtroom a prosecuting attorney who, according to Adrian’s wife, liked a social media post critical of the judge. It also said that in April, Adrian appeared before the board to justify the reversal of his finding of guilt and asserted it was based on the state’s evidence, not an effort to “thwart the law.”
The Eighth Judicial Circuit includes the counties of Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Mason, Menard, Pike and Schuyler, in southern Illinois.
Judicial Inquiry Board Executive Director and General Counsel Michael Deno will prosecute all three complaints. Deputy Director Natosha Cuyler Toller will assist in prosecuting complaints against Adrian and Ghouse.