Illinois Valley Times

Former LaSalle County State’s Attorney Brian Towne was in court for his arraignment on 17 felony counts recently, and a group of protesters made sure he knew they were watching, according to a Facebook post by the LaSalle County Republican Party.

“Now I'll be the first to admit I'm not exactly a courthouse groupie, but when was the last time you saw a group of people dressed in custom made T-shirts waiting outside a courthouse to see a guy leave and get in his car and drive off?” the party wrote in its post. “Oh, and a camera just happen to be there to film the ‘event.’  Anyone else curious about who is doing what to who here?”

The GOP group also shared an article on the event by Edgar County Watchdog co-founder Kirk Allen.

Brian Towne | My Web Times

“Today’s hearing was a waste of time as the judge refused to hear any motions at the direction of the actual judge who will be hearing the case, Clark Erickson, who presides in the Kankakee court system,” Allen wrote. “Included in the proposed motions that were simply entered into the file was a motion to set bond, dated Sept. 6, 2017, and a motion to amend the charges due to scriveners errors related to statute citations.”

Allen claimed that as Towne left the building, protesters showered him with chants of “Down with Towne” and “Lyin’ Brian.”

Towne is facing a 17-count indictment alleging misconduct as the chief prosecutor in LaSalle County. The charges include having staff conduct political activity during office hours and misusing public funds. He allegedly donated thousands of dollars to a local high school club and also paid personal expenses. Towne purportedly used money generated through an asset forfeiture program to fund the personal expense payments.

According to Allen, Towne will be represented in court by Daniel Bute, a retired associate judge for the county’s circuit court who has returned to his legal practice. He began practicing law in the area in 1978, acting at various times as both a private attorney and a public defender. He became a judge in 2005. Allen said Bute resigned his judgeship after a Judicial Inquiry Board probe over alleged secret wiretapping orders.

“As we understand from another hearing today, the now-retired judge signed secret wiretap orders against a local attorney and her client, even though there was no corresponding case number,” Allen wrote. “Bute was reported to the Judicial Inquiry Board regarding those secret orders and about a month later resigned. We suspect such a resignation was not a coincidence.”