Five years after being appointed as a Cook County associate judge in 2005, Simpson participated in an ex parte conversation involving another judge and a business owner whom Simpson had talked to about detailing his vehicle. Simpson received a censure for the misconduct. Simpson is retired from the bench, is registered to practice law in Illinois and will receive $73,449.36 in Illinois pension this year.
Francis X. Golniewicz III first was appointed by the State Supreme Court to a vacant seat in 1991, and then won election three years later as a circuit judge from the 10th sub-circuit encompassing Chicago’s northwest side.
Michael J. Chmiel was appointed to a circuit court post in 2004 and then, two years later, won election when McHenry County was shifted into a newly-created 22nd Illinois district. In February, 2008, the Judicial Inquiry Board filed a complaint against Chmiel, based on his actions in holding an emergency bond hearing for the brother of a political ally, after a series of private conversations. In November, 2010, the courts commission reprimanded Chmiel over those conversations.
Lambros J. Kutrubis, an associate judge appointed to the circuit court in 1989, was suspended for six months by the Illinois Courts Commission in 2002 after he admitted to several counts of judicial misconduct.
Perrin is an associate judge for Sangamon County. He was appointed to the bench in 2009.
Charles M. Travis was first elected as a Cook County Circuit Court Judge in 1996, and served until his retirement in 2004. In 2003 he was suspended for one month after a series of incidents that, the Illinois Courts Commission found, involved misusing his position as a judge to advance his own or his daughter’s interests.
Susan J. McDunn served as Cook County Circuit Judge from 1993, when she was seated following a court challenge to the results of a contested primary election, until her retirement in 2012.
James T. Doyle was first named a Kane County Associate Judge in 1989; three years later, he was elected as a Circuit Judge. In 2000, Doyle helped launch the county’s drug court. But in February, 2005, the Judicial Inquiry Board alleged that Doyle had systematically violated the rights of criminal defendants in his drug court, among other acts of judicial misconduct. The charges were dismissed when Doyle resigned from the bench while the charges were pending. Doyle last registered to practice law in 2012 and is now retired, collecting $128,257.08 in his pension this year.
Oliver M. Spurlock was named a Cook County Associate Judge in 1988. He served until December, 2001, when the Illinois Courts Commission ordered him removed based on its finding that he engaged in inappropriate and sexually intimidating behavior while a judge. This year Spurlock will receive $76,986.12 from his judicial pension.
Donald A. Behle, associate Judge of Logan County, was first appointed to the bench in 1999.