Bill Text: IL HB0255 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends the Police and Community Relations Improvement Act. Provides that in the case of a law enforcement officer-involved death, the chief judge of the circuit court of the circuit in which the law enforcement officer-involved death occurred shall appoint a special prosecutor to review the report of the investigators assigned to investigate an officer-involved death and to prosecute the officer involved in the death, if the special prosecutor determines that there is a basis for the prosecution. Amends the Counties Code to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-16 - Added Co-Sponsor Rep. Curtis J. Tarver, II [HB0255 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-HB0255-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning local government.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Police and Community Relations Improvement | |||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Act is amended by changing Section 1-10 as follows:
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6 | (50 ILCS 727/1-10)
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7 | Sec. 1-10. Investigation of officer-involved deaths; | |||||||||||||||||||||
8 | requirements.
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9 | (a) Each law enforcement agency shall have a written | |||||||||||||||||||||
10 | policy regarding the investigation of officer-involved deaths | |||||||||||||||||||||
11 | that involve a law enforcement officer employed by that law | |||||||||||||||||||||
12 | enforcement agency. | |||||||||||||||||||||
13 | (b) Each officer-involved death investigation shall be | |||||||||||||||||||||
14 | conducted by at least 2 investigators, or an entity or agency | |||||||||||||||||||||
15 | comprised of at least 2 investigators, one of whom is the lead | |||||||||||||||||||||
16 | investigator. The lead investigator shall be a person | |||||||||||||||||||||
17 | certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards | |||||||||||||||||||||
18 | Board as a Lead Homicide Investigator, or similar training | |||||||||||||||||||||
19 | approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards | |||||||||||||||||||||
20 | Board or the Department of State Police, or similar training | |||||||||||||||||||||
21 | provided at an Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards | |||||||||||||||||||||
22 | Board certified school. No
investigator involved in the | |||||||||||||||||||||
23 | investigation may be employed by the law enforcement agency |
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1 | that employs the officer involved in the officer-involved | ||||||
2 | death, unless the investigator is employed by the Department | ||||||
3 | of State Police and is not assigned to the same division or | ||||||
4 | unit as the officer involved in the death. | ||||||
5 | (c) In addition to the requirements of subsection (b) of | ||||||
6 | this Section, if the officer-involved death being investigated | ||||||
7 | involves a motor vehicle accident, at least one investigator | ||||||
8 | shall be certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training | ||||||
9 | Standards Board as a Crash Reconstruction Specialist, or | ||||||
10 | similar training approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement | ||||||
11 | Training Standards Board or the Department of State Police, or | ||||||
12 | similar training provided at an Illinois Law Enforcement | ||||||
13 | Training Standards Board certified school. Notwithstanding the | ||||||
14 | requirements of subsection (b) of this Section, the policy for | ||||||
15 | a law enforcement agency, when the officer-involved death | ||||||
16 | being investigated involves a motor vehicle collision, may | ||||||
17 | allow the use of an investigator who is employed by that law | ||||||
18 | enforcement agency and who is certified by the Illinois Law | ||||||
19 | Enforcement Training Standards Board as a Crash Reconstruction | ||||||
20 | Specialist, or similar training approved by the Illinois Law | ||||||
21 | Enforcement Training and Standards Board, or similar certified | ||||||
22 | training approved by the Department of State Police, or | ||||||
23 | similar training provided at an Illinois Law Enforcement | ||||||
24 | Training and Standards Board certified school. | ||||||
25 | (d) The investigators conducting the investigation shall, | ||||||
26 | in an expeditious manner, provide a complete report to the |
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1 | special prosecutor appointed by the court as provided in | ||||||
2 | subsection (d-5) State's Attorney of the county in which the | ||||||
3 | officer-involved death occurred . | ||||||
4 | (d-5) The chief judge of the circuit court of the circuit | ||||||
5 | in which the law enforcement officer-involved death occurred | ||||||
6 | shall appoint a special prosecutor to review the report of the | ||||||
7 | investigators assigned to investigate an officer-involved | ||||||
8 | death and to prosecute the officer involved in the death, if | ||||||
9 | the special prosecutor determines that there is a basis for | ||||||
10 | the prosecution. | ||||||
11 | (e) If the special prosecutor appointed by the court under | ||||||
12 | subsection (d-5) State's Attorney, or a designated special | ||||||
13 | prosecutor, determines there is no basis to prosecute the law | ||||||
14 | enforcement officer involved in the officer-involved death, or | ||||||
15 | if the law enforcement officer is not otherwise charged or | ||||||
16 | indicted, the investigators shall publicly release a report.
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17 | (Source: P.A. 99-352, eff. 1-1-16 .)
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18 | Section 10. The Counties Code is amended by changing | ||||||
19 | Section 3-9008 as follows:
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20 | (55 ILCS 5/3-9008) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-9008)
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21 | Sec. 3-9008. Appointment of attorney to perform duties. | ||||||
22 | (a) (Blank). | ||||||
23 | (a-5) The court on its own motion, or an interested person | ||||||
24 | in a cause or proceeding, civil or criminal, may file a |
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1 | petition alleging that the State's Attorney is sick, absent, | ||||||
2 | or unable to fulfill his or her duties. The court shall | ||||||
3 | consider the petition, any documents filed in response, and if | ||||||
4 | necessary, grant a hearing to determine whether the State's | ||||||
5 | Attorney is sick, absent, or otherwise unable to fulfill his | ||||||
6 | or her duties. If the court finds that the State's Attorney is | ||||||
7 | sick, absent, or otherwise unable to fulfill his or her | ||||||
8 | duties, the court may appoint some competent attorney to | ||||||
9 | prosecute or defend the cause or proceeding. | ||||||
10 | (a-10) The court on its own motion, or an interested | ||||||
11 | person in a cause or proceeding, civil or criminal, may file a | ||||||
12 | petition alleging that the State's Attorney has an actual | ||||||
13 | conflict of interest in the cause or proceeding. The court | ||||||
14 | shall consider the petition, any documents filed in response, | ||||||
15 | and if necessary, grant a hearing to determine whether the | ||||||
16 | State's Attorney has an actual conflict of interest in the | ||||||
17 | cause or proceeding. If the court finds that the petitioner | ||||||
18 | has proven by sufficient facts and evidence that the State's | ||||||
19 | Attorney has an actual conflict of interest in a specific | ||||||
20 | case, the court may appoint some competent attorney to | ||||||
21 | prosecute or defend the cause or proceeding. | ||||||
22 | (a-11) In the case of an officer-involved death, as | ||||||
23 | defined in Section 1-5 of the Police and Community Relations | ||||||
24 | Improvement Act, the court shall appoint a special prosecutor | ||||||
25 | to prosecute a law enforcement officer for an officer-involved | ||||||
26 | death as provided in subsection (d-5) of Section 1-10 of that |
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1 | Act. | ||||||
2 | (a-15) Notwithstanding subsections (a-5) and (a-10) of | ||||||
3 | this Section, the State's Attorney may file a petition to | ||||||
4 | recuse himself or herself from a cause or proceeding for any | ||||||
5 | other reason he or she deems appropriate and the court shall | ||||||
6 | appoint a special prosecutor as provided in this Section. | ||||||
7 | (a-20) Prior to appointing a private attorney under this | ||||||
8 | Section, the court shall contact public agencies, including, | ||||||
9 | but not limited to, the Office of Attorney General, Office of | ||||||
10 | the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, or local State's | ||||||
11 | Attorney's Offices throughout the State, to determine a public | ||||||
12 | prosecutor's availability to serve as a special prosecutor at | ||||||
13 | no cost to the county and shall appoint a public agency if they | ||||||
14 | are able and willing to accept the appointment. An attorney so | ||||||
15 | appointed shall have the same power and authority in relation | ||||||
16 | to the cause or proceeding as the State's Attorney would have | ||||||
17 | if present and attending to the cause or proceedings. | ||||||
18 | (b) In case of a vacancy of more than one year
occurring in | ||||||
19 | any county in the office of State's attorney, by death,
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20 | resignation or otherwise, and it becomes necessary for the | ||||||
21 | transaction
of the public business, that some competent | ||||||
22 | attorney act as State's
attorney in and for such county during | ||||||
23 | the period between the time of
the occurrence of such vacancy | ||||||
24 | and the election and qualification of a
State's attorney, as | ||||||
25 | provided by law, the vacancy shall be filled upon
the written | ||||||
26 | request of a majority of the circuit judges of the circuit
in |
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1 | which is located the county where such vacancy exists, by | ||||||
2 | appointment
as provided in The Election Code of some competent | ||||||
3 | attorney to perform
and discharge all the duties of a State's | ||||||
4 | attorney in the said county,
such appointment and all | ||||||
5 | authority thereunder to cease upon the election
and | ||||||
6 | qualification of a State's attorney, as provided by law. Any
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7 | attorney appointed for any reason under this Section shall
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8 | possess all the powers and discharge all the
duties of a | ||||||
9 | regularly elected State's attorney under the laws of the
State | ||||||
10 | to the extent necessary to fulfill the purpose of such
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11 | appointment, and shall be paid by the county he serves not to | ||||||
12 | exceed in
any one period of 12 months, for the reasonable | ||||||
13 | amount of time actually
expended in carrying out the purpose | ||||||
14 | of such appointment, the same compensation
as provided by law | ||||||
15 | for the State's attorney of the county, apportioned,
in the | ||||||
16 | case of lesser amounts of compensation,
as to the time of | ||||||
17 | service reasonably and actually expended. The county shall | ||||||
18 | participate in all agreements on the rate of compensation of a | ||||||
19 | special prosecutor.
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20 | (c) An order granting authority to a special prosecutor | ||||||
21 | must be construed strictly and narrowly by the court. The | ||||||
22 | power and authority of a special prosecutor shall not be | ||||||
23 | expanded without prior notice to the county. In the case of the | ||||||
24 | proposed expansion of a special prosecutor's power and | ||||||
25 | authority, a county may provide the court with information on | ||||||
26 | the financial impact of an expansion on the county. Prior to |
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1 | the signing of an order requiring a county to pay for | ||||||
2 | attorney's fees or litigation expenses, the county shall be | ||||||
3 | provided with a detailed copy of the invoice describing the | ||||||
4 | fees, and the invoice shall include all activities performed | ||||||
5 | in relation to the case and the amount of time spent on each | ||||||
6 | activity. | ||||||
7 | (Source: P.A. 99-352, eff. 1-1-16 .)
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8 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
9 | becoming law.
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