CHICAGO — Cook County’s new district attorney will take office Monday and there are clear indications that changes are coming.
Proverb The District Attorney’s Office led by Kim Foxx “does not work for victims, defendants, advocates, law enforcement, and everyday citizens,” retired Court of Appeals Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke defeated her Democratic primary opponent, Cook County machine candidate Clayton Harris III, with only 1,571 votes in March. She went on to handily win the November elections by drawing 66% of the vote.
Burke vowed to “require pretrial detention for every violent crime,” saying people charged with attempted murder or murder “require detention,” not electronic monitoring. She also promised to reverse one of Foxx’s key decisions by making shoplifting a misdemeanor if the stolen goods are worth $300 or more. Foxx ignored state law by reserving misdemeanor charges for habitual offenders and those accused of stealing $1,000 or more.
“If there is public sentiment to change the law, the right way to do that is to go to the Legislature and change it,” she says. told the Sun-Times earlier this year.
Now there are signs that O’Neill Burke will put her words into action.
As her top assistant, she brings in Anna Demacopoulos, who spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor and 15 years as a judge in Cook County. A veteran of the justice system named Demacopoulos “exactly what the office needs. No-nonsense and no time for laziness.”
O’Neill Burke’s choice of Demacopoulos has given veteran prosecutors hope that the new administration will restart and rebuild the office, which has lost generations of experience and institutional knowledge in recent years.
“From Monday we can be prosecutors again,” says a long-serving employee.
Demacopoulos replaces Risa Lanier, who is leaving the office. Lanier spent a quarter century in the prosecutor’s office, but she will be best remembered as the prosecutor who handled the Jussie Smollett case, including the unique plea deal that was immediately hidden from the public eye.
Most remarkably, even though the Smollett case appears to have been a career killer given the intense scrutiny and criticism it brought on Foxx, Lanier not only saved her career but was promoted to Foxx’s top assistant.
Lanier filed for judgeship earlier this year but was deemed “not qualified” by the Illinois State Bar Association. The group withheld its endorsement because attorneys “expressed concerns about what they called her honesty and candor with the Court,” while other attorneys felt Lanier “exhibited poor decision-making skills.”
She lost the election and came third with 17.8% of the votes.
Talks over the district attorney’s water cooler have revealed that at least two career prosecutors who left under Foxx’s watch hope to return under O’Neill Burke. However, no announcements have been made.
