Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Clout, conflicts of interest cloud the work of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit

suntimes.com · 1hShare

The former assistant state’s attorney charged with murder. The judge caught driving drunk. The clerk accused of skimming government funds. When local prosecutors might have political or personal ties to a defendant, the state brings in an elite squad of government attorneys: the Illinois Special Prosecution Unit. They are supposed to be lawyers beyond reproach. Instead, the unit has been clouded by allegations of corruption, misconduct and conflicts of interest. The two dozen lawyers of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit are mostly former county state’s attorneys, many with powerful political connections. All are white, most are men. Since its creation in the 1980s, the unit has been the primary way criminal cases in Illinois are handled when local state’s attorneys are disqualified because of conflicts. Its prosecutors took on more than 1,000 cases in 2024, far more than were pursued through other methods of appointing special prosecutors, including referrals to the state attorney gen

First report: How the Special Prosecution Unit shattered a small-town civic leader’s life — injusticewatch.org, 2d