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Longtime Circuit Judge Drazewski To Retire

Judge looks at papers
David Proeber
/
The Pantagraph (Pool)
McLean County Circuit Judge Scott Drazewski during a 2019 trial.

Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Scott Drazewski will retire Dec. 31 after 23 years on the bench, according to a statement Monday from Illinois State Supreme Court Justice Rita Garmin.

Garmin announced the judicial vacancy for the circuit that includes Ford, Livingston, Logan, McLean and Woodford counties.

Drazewski served as an associate judge from 1997 to 2002, when he became a circuit judge. He was retained by voters in 2016.

The deadline for lawyers to submit applications for the position is Nov. 30. The candidate chosen by the Supreme Court to fill the post will serve until the first Monday following the November 2022 general election.

During his career, Drazewski, a Republican, has overseen several high-profile cases, including the 2009 murder trial involving Christopher Harris and his brother, Jason Harris. The pair were charged in connection with the deaths Rick and Ruth Gee and three of their children in Beason in Logan County.

The retiring judge also handled the Kirk Zimmerman murder trial in 2019. The Bloomington man was acquitted of killing his former wife, Pam Zimmerman.

Drazewski was the part of the criminal justice team responsible for establishin McLean County’s drug court program. He was the first judge named to preside over the problem-solving court.

In 2016, Drazewski was suspended for four months without pay by the Illinois Courts Commission for violating ethics standards. He had failed to remove himself from a case in which he had a conflict of interest. He was later retained by voters for another 6-year term.

Edith began her career as a reporter with The DeWitt County Observer, a weekly newspaper in Clinton. From 2007 to June 2019, Edith covered crime and legal issues for The Pantagraph, a daily newspaper in Bloomington, Illinois. She previously worked as a correspondent for The Pantagraph covering courts and local government issues in central Illinois.
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