With the proposed resignation of Williamson County’s long-time state’s attorney, a name has surfaced to be moved into the role.
However, as is the usual case in Williamson, even THAT may come with some attendant baggage.
If you want strange, you never need to look much further than Marion and the characters that are in the courthouse; that’s been an established fact for a lot longer than we’ve been covering news in downstate Illinois. And your next Read the Lead takes that turn right into the lives of the courthouse denizens and those surrounding them. Here now is your afternoon Read the Lead, Will Garnati resign; and who has been tapped as his replacement?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chuck Garnati
WILLIAMSON CO.—Most of Williamson County wanted to believe they saw it coming, but when long-time State’s Attorney Chuck Garnati let it slip in mid-June that he would be departing his office midterm come August, it still took many folks by surprise.
However, those who have been painfully cognizant of the complaint being examined by the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) as filed against Garnati December 3, 2013 opined that the stinging ARDC complaint would come to no good end for the prosecutor who is in his eighth term (each term four years, and so the general opinion seems to be leaning toward the “too-long-in-office-anyway” sentiment.)
The ARDC complaint outlines some remarks Garnati made during a 2011 murder trial that appeared abjectly racist, and the entire complaint has been featured in full here in Disclosure, this back in the December 2013 edition (it can also be viewed at the website, disclosurenewsonline.com).
Sean de Mello
Garnati “let it slip” about a possible resignation on or about June 19, and news outlets ran with the story despite the fact that most of them haven’t been able to get him to comment (Disclosure confirmed the decision through other official sources, however, who are very close to Garnati and have been for several decades.)
As of press time, because of the media swirl surrounding the revelation, Garnati appeared to have been backpedaling slightly, telling some sources in hit-and-miss conversations that the suggestion he was stepping down in August might have been “premature.”
Nevertheless, Disclosure has learned through numerous sources that the replacement to carry out the term to the 2016 election is a well-known attorney in the area, Sean Hall de Mello, 46, a current assistant prosecutor in Garnati’s office (one of eight).
While de Mello’s legal prowess isn’t something life-altering, his personal problems have been lead issues….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read the rest of this intensive article, click the headline link above the excerpt to go straight to it if you have an online membership to the e-Edition; or, if you don’t have a membership, click this link here to get started! Or, if you’d rather hold a newspaper in your hands, visit one of our wonderful vendors throughout southern Illinois; in Williamson County, our Marion vendors are ROC One-Stop, Pit Road Racing and Hunter’s Cove Barbershop; as well as ROC One-Stop in Johnston City. Don’t miss out…a week from today, this issue is gone and replaced by the July-August 2014 edition…go get em!