SALINE CO.—Here’s another story that didn’t make it into this issue due to space restraints:
A Harrisburg felon currently sitting in Illinois’ Department of Corrections on a theft charge from 2003 is taking a cue from the Raymond Moss school of do-it-yourself jailhouse lawyering and is asking for cash money for days he claimed Saline County kept him at the SCDC for too long.
Deangelo Cowper
Deangelo Cowper, 28, is incarcerated in DOC in Pinckneyville until October of this year after a Retail Theft conviction dating back to 2003 was ultimately moved into the serious punishment stage after several violations of Failure to Return from Furlough (weekend periodic imprisonment at the Saline County Detention Center) occurred between 2009 and 2011.
Handwrites request
Cowper , in a handwritten Miscellaneous Remedy case filed December 14, 2011, claims that he is In Forma Pauperis (indigent, or, unable to pay fines and fees, etc.) and wishes that the court will take the case without any kind of payment for filing.
He goes on to state that he is filing a case against the county and the sheriff’s department because they “failed to perform specific ministrail” (likely, administrative) “duties…regardless of plaintiff clear entitlement to performance of specific duties which are set forth as follows: giving DeAngelo Cowper credit for jail time served from 12/9/2010 to 5/11/2011 that was ordered by the court for Mr. Cowper to receive was (illegible) of the stipulations of sentencing in said case…as a result…plaintiff has suffered irreparable damages and been subjected to being held imprison an extra 100 to 132 days after serving all his time.”
Cowper is asking the court to grant any such relief just and necessary by ruling that the sheriff’s department’s action of “falling to provide credit for time served” translate to a mandamus compelling the department to compensate him $150 for each day of the 100 to 134 days he spent imprisoned “longer than he should have.”
The “cause” was notarized November 23 and filed as noted in December.
Lambert stops it cold
But on Dec. 16, Judge Todd Lambert reviewed the case and stopped it cold with the first pleading Cowper made, which was to be declared indigent, by denying such declaration.
Lambert stated that Cowper failed to comply with Supreme Court Rule 298: that an individual must personally appear before the court in order to present his or her petition.
While it doesn’t apply to persons incarcerated in DOC, Cowper was in jail, not prison, when the MR was filed, and could have arranged to have been heard in front of the judge to make the In Forma Pauperis pleading, getting walked across the street to make the appearance, rather than sticking the form in the mail.
As a result, no further court setting has been made for Cowper…and he continues to sit in Pinckneyville Correctional, awaiting parole on October 14, 2012.
We have a lot more “housekeeping” types of stories coming up,…keep watching….We like to put them in the print version, though. We’ve had to cut back on some of our material lately because we need more ads to justify more pages. If you would like to support Disclosure and keep the print version nice and bulky, consider an ad! Our rates are the most reasonable to be found, and we’re really easy to work with…just email us at disclosurenewsonline@yahoo.com and make an inquiry!