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That whooshing sound you hear from the corner of
Ninth and Monroe isn’t wind; it’s a sigh of relief running
through the Sangamon County Courthouse over the announcement of the new
first assistant state’s attorney. John C. Milhiser — a
respected and popular attorney — accepted the post on Tuesday,
replacing Steve Weinhoeft, who is leaving Springfield to work as an
assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Illinois. Milhiser worked as an assistant state’s
attorney from 1997 to 2003, when he accepted a job with the firm of Barber
Segatto Hoffee & Hines. He sounds excited about returning to his old
stomping grounds. “It’s a great opportunity to go back and
work in that office. It’s what I love to do, being a
prosecutor,” Milhiser says. “I’m looking forward to
working with [State’s Attorney] John Schmidt again.”
Milhiser says he’ll probably continue as
executive producer and host of the cable television show Prairie Lawyer, which airs on Access
Four at 2:30 and 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. every Monday. He’s also an
accomplished golfer; he won the Round the Town tournament in 2001. His
wife, Gail Noll (niece of local defense attorney Jon Gray Noll), is a law
clerk for the federal district. They have two daughters, Abby, 7, and Katie
Mae, 5. Defense attorneys who have worked with Milhiser
describe him as perhaps not as talented a trial lawyer as Weinhoeft but
nonetheless “a great guy, very down-to-earth” and “truly
a good person.”
Reportedly the other leading contender for the job
was Andrew Ramage, an unknown quantity at the county courthouse. Ramage, a
partner at Hinshaw & Cullbertson, has extensive experience with
business and government litigation but little or no criminal-prosecution
experience. Weinhoeft will stay on through January to handle a
murder trial.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2007.
