Don Norton panhandles in Springfield. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Two well-known panhandlers in Springfield are appealing an initial defeat in their lawsuit against the city. Even if they lose the appeal, however, they’ll likely have another chance to make their case. The panhandlers seek to have the City of Springfield’s ban on panhandling downtown struck […]
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A decade later, still trying to clear his name
The Harbor Freight Tools parking lot where James Foster of Springfield was alleged to have sold a coworker one ounce of marijuana. Foster was acquitted of the charges, but lost his state job anyway. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE A decade ago, $100 apparently bought one ounce of marijuana. That’s how much pot James Foster of […]
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Trying to enhance the image of lawyers
Having grown up in a family of lawyers, attorney John Thies of Urbana understands the need for respect and integrity in the judicial system. “The approach I learned from my father and grandfather is that judges were always held in the highest regard,” he said. His father, Richard Thies, was a former president of the […]
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She may be innocent
In the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 1986, Richard Harshbarger grabbed his .38 caliber revolver and a homemade bat, climbed into his Dodge Rampage truck, and departed from his home in Pana. His younger sister, Peggy Jo Jackson, lived in the southern Illinois town of Mt. Vernon with her abusive husband, William Jackson, and […]
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Innocent, but still guilty
Although Anthony Murray walked out of prison on Oct. 31 a free man after 14 years, gaining his freedom required admitting to a murder he says he didn’t commit. “It’s been a long road,” the 41-year-old Chicago resident said in a Marion County courtroom in Salem during a hearing the day before his release. “I’m […]
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10-year prison sentence for hit-and-run driver
He was left to die in a pool of his own blood “like roadkill.” That’s how Sangamon County Circuit Judge Leo Zappa described the death of Danny Dapron Jr., a 30-year-old cyclist killed in a hit-and-run accident on Aug. 8, 2010. Zappa sentenced the driver, Ursula Jones, 23, of Springfield, to 10 years in prison […]
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Judge sides with Illinois Times on lawsuit
A Sangamon County judge has ordered a Springfield city government committee to hold open meetings following a lawsuit by an Illinois Times reporter. Bruce Rushton, a staff writer for Illinois Times, filed a lawsuit against the city’s Joint Labor Management Health Committee after a closed-door meeting on Jan. 10 in which the committee decided to […]
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Judging from start to finish
There’s something to be said about finishing what you start. As of June 1, associate judges in the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court will keep cases from the beginning to the end of a trial. Juvenile court cases will be managed by four judges who will rotate in and out instead of one. Four associate judges […]
