Criminal case against Cook County Attorney can proceed to trial

The criminal case against Cook County Attorney Tim Scannell can proceed to trial, a judge ruled Friday.  According to the Duluth News Tribune, Sixth Judicial District Judge Shaun Floerke denied a defense motion to toss out a grand jury’s indictment of Scannell on two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and he ordered the parties to schedule a jury trial.
 
Scannell’s lawyer argued at a hearing last month that the prosecutor’s relationship with a 17-year-old girl was not illegal because he was not in a position of authority over her at the time of the alleged sexual contact. Scannell has been described as having been a family friend, coach, instructor and adviser to the girl over the years.
In a seven-page memorandum to his order, Floerke wrote that evidence presented to a Duluth grand jury in October sufficiently established probable cause to charge Scannell.
 
“The grand jury transcript shows that Defendant was in a position of authority at many different times in (the girl’s) life,” Floerke wrote. “It is less clear how much of a position of authority he was in with regard to (her) in August 2012. However, the legislature expanded the protection of potentially vulnerable minors by removing the requirement that the accused had to actually use their position of authority to commit the sexual act.”

Floerke also rejected the defense’s argument that special prosecutor Thomas Heffelfinger erred in the grand jury hearing by introducing a harassment order filed against Scannell by the girl’s parents in December 2012. The document served as necessary background information because it was the “trigger for the investigation,” Floerke wrote.

Heffelfinger commended the judge’s ruling Friday and said he is preparing for the case to go to trial.
“I’m very pleased with the judge’s order,” he said. “I think he did a nice job of summarizing the law and summarizing the facts as they were presented to grand jury related to Mr. Scannell’s position of authority over (the) victim.”
Heffelfinger said the case probably won’t be ready for trial until after Memorial Day.