The bench trial of Naplate Mayor Jim Rick will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 3 in a Grundy County courtroom for two misdemeanor traffic charges stemming from an Oct. 31, 2011, roadway incident. Presiding over the trial will be Associate Judge Sheldon R. Sobol— a former Grundy County States Attorney— whom La Salle County Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. assigned to the case after two 13th Judicial Circuit Court judges, Daniel J. Bute and Cynthia Raccuglia, recused themselves last year. Last April, following 18 months of investigation and only two interviews by the Illinois Office of the States Attorney Appellate Prosecutor dealing with the traffic incident — in which a Naplate police officer was injured — two misdemeanor charges and a petty offense charge were filed against Rick. Rick is charged with one count of reckless conduct and one count of reckless driving — both Class A misdemeanors punishable by as many as 365 days in jail and/or fines up to $2,500. He also is charged with the petty offense of unlicensed driving, which usually is punishable by a small fine.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:04:52 +0000