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Marengo softball beats Kaneland, 2-1, advances to state final / C1
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Judge denies Peters’ motion
SHERIFF’S OFFICE MARINE UNIT ON PATROL
No new trial for convicted shooter By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit Deputy Bill Wacaser (left) performs a routine boating safety inspection check Tuesday with Allen Davis of Wheaton and Jared Gudaitis of Lisle in McHenry.
New laws for boaters
Officers working to ensure safety on local waterways By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com McHENRY – Deputy Bill Wacaser was in a good mood. It’s hot, but not too hot. The sun was shining, and he had just started his shift on the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit. Wacaser was meandering along the Fox River when he stopped a boat of suntanned young men for what deputies call a BSI, or a boat safety inspection. The boaters were cooperative with Wacaser as he went over the checklist. “Do you have life
jackets?” “Let me see your fire extinguisher.” “Can I take a look at your motor?” Step by step, the boat’s owner was in compliance, and Wacaser sent him on his way. As he finished with the first group, a man and woman drove a small, tan boat past creating waves in their path. One: it’s a no-wake zone, and two: Wacaser’s boat lights are on, meaning other boaters should create no wake as they pass. Wacaser shouted for the woman to stop her
By the numbers Q 400 boat safety inspections in 2014 Q 55 citations issued in 2014 Q Six accident reports (this does not mean crashes, but it could be someone who damages their boat in shallow waters, for example) in 2014 Q Two boat collisions in 2014 Q 14 miscellaneous reports (could be a call for a tow, for example) in 2014
Source: McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit
See BOATERS, page A4
WOODSTOCK – Line by line, a McHenry County judge went over Scott B. Peters’ motion for a new trial, but eventually determined that none of the Holiday Hills shooter’s claims had any merit. Peters filed, without the help of his attorneys, a motion alleging that his attorneys “botched” his case. He was convicted of attempted murder of police officers and now faces Scott B. life in prison. Peters “I got convicted on 15 Class X felonies because they didn’t know what they were doing,” Peters said. Peters threw a number of complaints against the wall – abuse at the jail, prosecutorial “vindictiveness,” violations of his attorney-client privilege, altered evidence, Miranda violations and ineffective legal assistance – but none of it stuck. “These are not allegations,” Peters said. “If somebody looks into it, they’ll find out the truth.” He called his incarceration and trial a “systematic system of abuse” and even accused the judge of at one time hiring one of his attorneys as her “assistant.” “Never. Never,” Prather replied. “Your motions lack merit,”
See PETERS, page A4
Illinois bill would change process for juvenile offenders The ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO – A measure approved by the Illinois Legislature and awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner’s decision would end automatic transfers to adult court for 15-year-olds and limit the transfer of 16- and 17-year-olds for charges of first-degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated battery with a firearm. The legislation responds to the vastly different outcomes for those charged as adults re-
ceiving long prison sentences and those who remained in juvenile courts to walk free at age 21. Juvenile court cases also typically aren’t made public, allowing young offenders to reintegrate into society without a permanent criminal record once they complete their sentence. Andrew Lorek, who’s now 20, pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a rival gang member in 2009 in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood. Because he had turned 15 just two weeks before the shooting, the
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case automatically was transferred to adult court, where he received a 28-year prison sentence. In a similar case that took place just a few months earlier, a 14-year-old boy who shot Bruce Rauner and killed another teenager was able to stay in juvenile court and will be released next year when he turns 21.
A provision of the new measure calls for data tracking by all counties, which experts hope will help address racial disparities in the juvenile offenders placed in adult court, the Chicago Tribune reported. The Evanston-based nonprofit advocacy group Juvenile Justice Initiative has found that 99 percent of the 257 juvenile offenders who were automatically placed in adult court between 2010 and 2012 were nonwhite. The proposed law would at
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Filmmaker shooting documentary on McCullom Lake brain cancer cases seeks funds / A3 LOCAL NEWS
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least cut in half the number of juvenile offenders in Cook County automatically sent to adult court for lesser crimes, according to a representative of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who lobbied for the state reform bill. Many experts who argued decades ago for harsher treatment of juveniles at a time of a crime epidemic have since changed their stance. John DiIulio, a University of Pennsylvania professor who was credited as the architect of the teen “superpredator” theory,
was among that group. “Even in the ’90s, there was no case for automatic transfer even for young offenders charged or convicted of violent or multiple violent crimes,” DiIulio said in an email. “All the evidence since then indicates that automatic transfer policies have few if any positive consequences.” Asked to comment whether Rauner will sign the bill, press secretary Catherine Kelly said, “The governor will carefully consider any legislation that crosses his desk.”
Gardeners ‘pay it forward’ Woodstock farm’s community garden program donates a fifth of its harvest / A3
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