Chicago Lawyers: Are they corrupt?

Update: December 12, 2006

I spoke to Scott Thomas of WYLL Radio 1160 AM this afternoon after work. He reported Mr. Jackson was a delusional and angry man who possibly needed mental health services. I informed Mr. Thomas I was a mental health professional. I asked Mr. Thomas how he assessed Mr. Jackson as delusional. Mr. Thomas stated the Chicago Police investigated the case and found that there was no claim filed in Mr. Jackson's name for a patent. I informed Mr. Thomas this does make Mr. Jackson delusional. I informed Mr. Thomas this information supports Mr. Jackson's statement that Mr. McKenna did not do the job Mr. Jackson hired him to do.

After my statement, Mr. Thomas informed me he had to go. Mr. Thomas claims his radio talk show is dialogue, not monologue. I guess if you agree with him, it will be dialogue. If you disagree with him, as I did, it becomes monologue. I informed Mr. Thomas I did not support Mr. Jackson's actions. I informed Mr. Thomas I supported Mr. Jackson's claim that his lawyer did nothing for him after he paid him to perform a duty.

Man kills 3 in Chicago

This is a brief account of the event as reported by Chicago Tribune reporters Andrew L. Wang and Matt O'Connor. Tribune reporters Tonya Maxwell and Jeff Long also contributed to this story, which was published on December 11, 2006.

Two days after a West Side truck driver entered the offices of a downtown law firm and killed three people, the man's family and acquaintances called him a quietly religious man who for years sought revenge against a lawyer he believed pilfered his idea for a portable toilet. About 3 p.m. on December 8, 2006, Joe Jackson went to Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer law firm on the 38th floor of 500 W. Madison St. with a snub-nose revolver and killed Michael McKenna, 58, who leased office space there. He then fatally shot another attorney, Allen J. Hoover, 65, and Paul Goodson, 78, a part-time employee and retired teacher. Ruth Zak Leib, 57, McKenna's paralegal, was shot in the foot and survived. Police shot Jackson in the head and chest, killing him and ending a 45-minute standoff.

This man decided to take the lives of three people because of his complaint about poor service from a lawyer in Chicago. I wonder if he tried going to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee (ARDC) or the Illinois Bar Association. If he did he would not get any relief from these entities. They all have breakfast, lunch and dinner together. These entities will not return any relief for those who are their peers. I have gone to them several times about my issues.

I have a pending clemency appeal with Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich for a criminal conviction I suffered from Judge Paul Foxgrover. I had 2 lawyers in this case. One lawyer, Daniel Gallagher, was an alcoholic, who Judge Foxgrover had knowledge of his alcoholism. The other lawyer, William Swano, was indicted and suspended because of his involvement with Chicago’s Operation Greylord, an investigation into corruption in the courts. One of Governor Blagojevich’s representatives who interviewed me during my clemency hearing told me I did not show remorse for my criminal actions. For years Associate Judge Paul Foxgrover of the Markham Courthouse was a heavyweight in the 19th Ward Regular Democratic Organization of Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan and Assessor Thomas Hynes. He was a “go along” guy who figured that his powerhouse political connections placed him so far above the petty criminals that appeared before him in his courtroom, that nothing, short of an act of God, could touch him. That is, until the July 1991 grand jury was presented with evidence that this good judge scammed an estimated $50,000.00 in court-imposed fines which he deposited in two separate accounts for himself and a niece at the Mount Greenwood Bank. Foxgrover, who was appointed to the bench in 1984, was charged with 107 separated counts of theft, perjury, forgery, official misconduct, and obstruction of justice. Judge Foxgrover was suspended from his post but he continued to draw his $75,000-a-year salary while the case threaded through the Circuit Court. He did not submit his resignation until June 17, 1992. Less than a month later, on July 14, 1992, Foxgrover was sentenced to six years in a state prison and assessed a $25,934 fine after pleading guilty to theft, official misconduct, and forgery. The remaining charges against Foxgrover were dropped by the State’s Attorney’s office.

While I was incarcerated from Judge Foxgrover's decision, I continued to address my issues with the courts. When I was supposed to go to court a property clerk for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) purposely misdirected my legal papers. The papers were lost. I took the issue to the Federal Courts. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois dismissed my case against the IDOC property clerk. I took the case to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. On June 17, 1998 the Appeals Court made their decision. This Court stated in its conclusions: "Nance has two options, which are not mutually exclusive: to seek damages in state court for the value of the photocopies as ordinary personal property, and to initiate a collateral attack or request for pardon concerning the judgment that rests on his guilty plea. The dismissal of his sec. 1983 complaint is without prejudice to the pursuit of those options, and on that understanding the judgment is affirmed." [see Fred Nance v. J.D. Vieregge, et al.; Argued May 12, 1998--Decided June 17, 1998]

I did not know about this decision on my appeal until I was researching another case in January of 2006. No one contacted me about this decision. I did know it existed. I went to IDOC in August of 1992. I believe I filed this complaint initially in January of 1993. IDOC personnel punished me for 1 year and 11 months, until I was discharged from IDOC on December 20, 1994, because I filed this complaint against their property clerk.

What choices do I have? I choose to write about my issues with crooked lawyers and judges in Illinois, specifically, Chicago. No one knows how many crooked lawyers and judges Chicago really has. What I do know is that the ARDC and the Illinois Bar Association is not going to investigate and find their peers libel for any acts of misconduct.

And so, we have a Joe Jackson. This is a sad state of affairs. The little man has no relief in our society. This is why we have to advocate for the socially disadvantaged and disenfranchised.