Police and Courts

John Hanlon will retire June 30 as executive director of the Illinois Innocence Project at University of Illinois Springfield. Over the past 12 years, Hanlon and a team of lawyers, students and volunteers has helped exonerate 18 defendants.

The rape and child pornography cases against Jeffrey Martin took a baby step forward on Tuesday after a judge gave Martin 45 days to continue his search for a new lawyer in the county’s longest pending criminal case.

A Bloomington man received toxic levels of medication during his 2019 stay at a state mental health center, according to recent findings by the Regional Human Rights Authority, based on the agency’s investigation into allegations of abuse.

A federal judge in Peoria has sentenced a Bloomington man to 20 years in prison for selling heroin to a man who who died of a drug overdose. Jacob Schultz, 36, also will serve five years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage said when he leaves office at the end of next year he hopes society will continue improving programs to reduce repeat crimes. Sandage said he thinks reducing penalties for drugs is a bad direction society is taking, but so is ignoring needs for treatment.

A survey designed to find out how Bloomington residents feel about their police department came back with some odd data that call into question the reliability of the effort. But those who conducted the survey said there remain useful elements from the responses.

Mclean County Sheriff Jon Sandage said Tuesday he'll call it quits after his second term is over at the end of next year. He was last elected in 2018.

A former Ridgeview High School teacher was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting a former student.

In a response filed Monday, the state notes that just 13 prisoners – down from 20 when the injunction request was made April 26—have COVID-19 and 76 cases are reported among staff.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling considered a disappointing setback for efforts to spare young offenders from a life in prison without parole is expected to have little impact in Illinois, where changes in the law shield most youth from a lifetime behind bars.