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Robert Adrian
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive election coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This judge is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.
Robert "Bob" Adrian was a judge of the Eighth Circuit Court in Illinois.[1] He was elected to the court in 2010.[2] Adrian was retained in the general election on November 8, 2016. He was removed from office January 13, 2022 for misconduct.[3]
Education
Adrian earned an undergraduate degree from Millikin University in 1980. He went on to receive his J.D. from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1983.[4]
Career
Prior to his judicial election in 2010, Adrian was a partner with the law firm of Adrian and Dunn. He previously served eight years as an assistant state's attorney and three years as a public defender in Adams County. He is a certified mediator and a certified child representative.[5]
Awards and associations
Adrian is a former president of the Adams County Bar Association and has served on the board of the West Central Child Care Connections.[5]
Adrian has additional experience as a softball, flag football, baseball and swim coach, and he was the president of the Sheridan Swim Team. He spent 10 years as a Cub Scout leader for St. Peter Pack 5.[5]
Elections
2016
Judges of the Illinois Circuit Court stand for retention after their first full term. To be retained, a judge must receive at least 60 percent of the vote.[6][7] Robert Adrian was retained in the Illinois Eighth Circuit Court, Robert Adrian Retention Election with 83.03 percent of the vote.
| Illinois Eighth Circuit Court, Robert Adrian Retention Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 Robert Adrian | 83.03% | |
| Source: Illinois Board of Elections, "Elections Results, General Election 11/8/2016," accessed November 28, 2018 | ||
2010
- See also: Illinois judicial elections, 2010
Adrian defeated Christopher G. Scholz with 56.65 percent of the vote in the general election.[2][8]
Noteworthy events
Reassignment to civil cases following comments made during sexual assault case (2022-2023)
On October 15, 2021, Adrian found Drew Clinton, a defendant in a sexual assault case, guilty of one count of criminal sexual assault.[9] At Clinton’s sentencing hearing on January 3, 2022, Adrian reversed his verdict and declared him not guilty.[10]
After announcing his ruling, Adrian made the following comments:
| “ | This is what's happened when parents do not exercise their parental responsibilities, when we have people, adults, having parties for teenagers, and they allow coeds and female people to swim in their underwear in their swimming pool. And, no, underwear is not the same as swimming suits. It's just – they allow 16-year-olds to bring liquor to a party. They provide liquor to underage people, and you wonder how these things happen. Well, that's how these things happen. The Court is totally disgusted with that whole thing.[11][12] | ” |
On January 12, 2022, during a hearing for an unrelated case, Adrian told Josh Jones, the lead trial attorney for the Adams County State’s Attorney’s Office, to leave the courtroom, saying “[my wife] saw the thumbs up you gave to people attacking me. I can’t be fair with you today. Get out.” Muddy River News reported Jones had liked a Facebook post that criticized Adrian for changing his verdict in the criminal assault case.[13]
On January 13, 2022, Chief Judge J. Frank McCartney of the Eighth Circuit Court in Illinois signed an administrative order removing Adrian from hearing criminal court cases and assigning him to preside over small claims, probate dockets, and other civil cases. After issuing his order, McCartney said, “I want to make sure the court process in Adams County is working properly, and I understand this situation has received a lot of media coverage.”[14][10]
On March 2, 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to reverse Adrian's verdict in the criminal assault case. In a statement, the court said, "the double jeopardy clause prohibits further prosecution even where an acquittal is `based upon an egregiously erroneous foundation."[15]
On July 12, 2022, Adrian said, “In the case that has caused the controversy, Drew Clinton was not guilty of the offenses he was charged with. [...] That’s what the law showed. That’s what the evidence showed. And that’s what I found.”[16]
Referring to his exchange with Jones, Adrian said, "I was totally wrong to take the actions I did, and I take full responsibility for that matter. I called Mr. Jones a couple of days after it happened and apologized to him for my actions. There is not now, nor ever really has been, a problem between me and Mr. Jones. My only excuse for my action is that God created us all human, even judges."[17]
On June 17, 2022, the Illinois Judicial Board filed a complaint against Adrian with the Illinois Courts Commission. The complaint alleged Adrian "[r]eversed [a] finding of guilt to prevent the defendant from serving a mandatory prison sentence," and [r]etaliated against [a] prosecutor for agreeing with critical comments about him."[18] On April 13, 2023, WGEM reported that Adrian's hearing before the Illinois Courts Commission would take place on November 8, 2023.[19]
On January 3, 2023, Chief Judge McCartney reinstated Adrian to the criminal court docket.[20]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Illinois Courts, "Judges of the 8th Judicial Circuit," accessed October 25, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Illinois State Board of Elections, "2010 General Election Results"
- ↑ ‘’Muddy River News,’’ "Illinois Courts Commission rules Adrian to be removed immediately as Eighth Circuit judge," February 23, 2024
- ↑ Official biography of Judge Adrian
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Quincy Herald-Whig, "Quincy attorney Bob Adrian formally announces judge candidacy," December 12, 2009 (Cached)
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Judicial Evaluations - How it works," accessed November 19, 2019
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Illinois," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Tuesday's judicial results for all circuit outside of Cook," November 2010
- ↑ Muddy River News, "Farha working with appellate prosecutor, Attorney General’s office to put Clinton sentencing in front of new judge," January 19, 2022
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Herald-Whig, "Judge Robert Adrian reassigned to civil cases," January 13, 2022
- ↑ WGEM "Judge’s reversal in criminal sexual assault case draws ire," January 11, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Muddy River News, "Chief judge visits Quincy: ‘Things will be done’ in coming days, weeks in regard to Adrian’s comments," January 12, 2022
- ↑ Muddy River News, "Chief judge removes Adrian from felony docket to ‘make sure everything’s running smoothly in Adams County’," January 13, 2022
- ↑ KHQA, "Illinois Supreme Court won't order sentence in sex assault," March 3, 2022
- ↑ Herald-Whig,Adrian launches retention campaign amid protests, accusations," July 12, 2022
- ↑ Muddy River News, "Letter to the Editor: Adrian says public relations firm was hired to spread lies across nation," August 1, 2022
- ↑ WGEM, "Judge Robert Adrian faces complaint from Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board," Jun 21, 2022
- ↑ WGEM, "Hearing set for Adams County judge who made controversial ruling in sexual assault case," April 13, 2023
- ↑ Muddy River News, "Chief judge puts Adrian back on felony criminal court docket," January 3, 2023
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Federal courts:
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois
State courts:
Illinois Supreme Court • Illinois Appellate Court • Illinois Circuit Court
State resources:
Courts in Illinois • Illinois judicial elections • Judicial selection in Illinois
