Clout, conflicts of interest cloud the work of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit
<p>The former assistant state’s attorney charged with murder.</p><p>The judge caught driving drunk.</p><p>The clerk accused of skimming government funds.</p><p>When local prosecutors might have political or personal ties to a defendant, the state brings in an elite squad of government attorneys: the Illinois Special Prosecution Unit.</p><p>They are supposed to be lawyers beyond reproach.</p><p>Instead, the unit has been clouded by allegations of corruption, misconduct and conflicts of interest.</p><p>The two dozen lawyers of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit are mostly former county state’s attorneys, many with powerful political connections. All are white, most are men.</p><p>Since its creation in the 1980s, the unit has been the primary way criminal cases in Illinois are handled when local state’s attorneys are disqualified because of conflicts.
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<p>The former assistant state’s attorney charged with murder.</p><p>The judge caught driving drunk.</p><p>The clerk accused of skimming government funds.</p><p>When local prosecutors might have political or personal ties to a defendant, the state brings in an elite squad of government attorneys: the Illinois Special Prosecution Unit.</p><p>They are supposed to be lawyers beyond reproach.</p><p>Instead, the unit has been clouded by allegations of corruption, misconduct and conflicts of interest.</p><p>The two dozen lawyers of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit are mostly former county state’s attorneys, many with powerful political connections. All are white, most are men.</p><p>Since its creation in the 1980s, the unit has been the primary way criminal cases in Illinois are handled when local state’s attorneys are disqualified because of conflicts. Its prosecutors took on more than 1,000 cases in 2024, far more than were pursued through other methods of appointing special prosecutors, including referrals to the state attorney general, private attorneys or prosecutors from neighboring counties.</p><p>But the Special Prosecution Unit has been responsible for miscarriages of justice including withholding evidence and favorable treatment of political insiders, as well as conflicts of interest and ethical breaches.</p><p>To examine the Special Prosecution Unit, Injustice Watch reviewed thousands of pages of court documents and interviewed dozens of people, including defendants who were wrongly charged, victims who never saw justice, unit veterans and legal experts.</p><p>Here are the key findings:<br></p><ul class="rte2-style-ul" id="rte-c2a08352-9716-11f1-978c-7f7413ccaf70"><li>Special prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence that could have set murder defendant Curtis Lovelace free. The former Adams County prosecutor was acquitted in 2017 for the murder of his wife after spending 21 months in jail, but the misguided prosecution <a class="Link" href="https://www.injusticewatch.org/project/shadow-prosecutors/2026/prosecutorial-misconduct-curtis-lovelace/" target="_blank" >tore through his community and life</a>.
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- What's the story?
- <p>The former assistant state’s attorney charged with murder.</p><p>The judge caught driving drunk.</p><p>The clerk accused of skimming government funds.</p><p>When local prosecutors might have political or personal ties to a defendant, the state brings in an elite squad of government attorneys: the Illinois Special Prosecution Unit.</p><p>They are supposed to be lawyers beyond reproach.</p><p>Instead, the unit has been clouded by allegations of corruption, misconduct and conflicts of interest.</p><p>The two dozen lawyers of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit are mostly former county state’s attorneys, many with powerful political connections. All are white, most are men.</p><p>Since its creation in the 1980s, the unit has been the primary way criminal cases in Illinois are handled when local state’s attorneys are disqualified because of conflicts.
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Clout, conflicts of interest cloud the work of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit
Sources1TypeCoverageChicago Sun-Times