Cook County State's Attorney's right-hand man, Bob Milan, feels that in the heated primary race, experience is key.
Milan, who is currently the First Assistant State's Attorney, has been with the office for 20 years in various capacities. He is one of six candidates running in the Democratic primary, and one of two from within the State's Attorney's Office.
Milan has been endorsed by current State's Attorney Dick Devine. He started his career in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in 1988, beginning as an assistant state's attorney. Prior to becoming First Assistant State's Attorney, he was Supervisor of the Felony Review Unit and First Chair Felony Trial Division. In his current position, Milan supervises roughly 900 attorneys and investigators.
Windy City Times: You've been in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for over 20 years now. As the top assistant for the past four years, under your leadership, how do you think the office has improved the most?
Bob Milan: It has improved greatly in a lot of ways. I'm very proud of some of the things I've instituted. First of all, when I realized people had confessed to and been convicted of horrible crimes they did not commit, I was the one who instituted a training program for prosecutors to teach them how to detect false confessions and prevent wrongful convictions. As far as I know, I know of no other prosecutor in the whole country who addressed these issues in the nation. I followed up by creating a DNA review unit, which re-investigates old cases where defendants are making actual claims of innocence. Ten years ago, if a defendant comes forward and says, 'I'm innocent,' we'd go, 'That's what they all say.' Not any more. A lawyer calls us up and says, 'My clients is really claiming to be innocent,' we send it to the DNA review unit, they take care of it if there is anything to be tested, whether its prints, DNA or whatever. We pay for it, we test it, and we tear the case apart. I'm very proud that over the last few years since we started, we have freed a number of men, including a man who spent 24 years in prison for a rape he absolutely did not commit.
On top of that, a bill was enacted that mandated the video taping of all homicide interrogations. Dick Devine told me to implement it. He said it's your job to implement the system countywide, and I did so. It was a huge undertaking. You can imagine—we're the second-largest prosecutor's office in the whole country. It's a gigantic county, and I had to go all over the county and make sure each police department had a system set up in place and our office was ready to handle those. And the system that we set up, video taping homicide interrogations, has been very successful.
We also had more than 1,500 felony cases in our system that were over two years old. That's embarrassing. So, I implemented a plan to address attacking these old cases. In a two-year period, that plan won. The cases went down from 1,500 to 700. With a little more time, I'll get that number down to 300. Finally, when the county board decided to pay public defenders 12.75 percent more than our prosecutors last winter, … I was the one who made a very public and vocal crusade in order to get us fair pay, and it worked. They voted in our pay raises, also. Had we not gotten those, our office would have been wiped out. All the talent would have left.
WCT: Retention has always been a big issue.
BM: Retention is huge. So, I'm very proud of what I've done over the last few years in a leadership role.
WCT: Having been around for a long time, what areas do you think still need improvement?
MB: My main goal would be to reduce the county homicide rate. As you've probably read in recent days, the homicide rate is going down year after year, but it's not where we want it to be. Countywide, it's almost 500 a year still. The reason it's gone down is … the Chicago police and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office investigate and tape these open-air drug markets on the West and South sides. We'll watch these guys for six weeks, eight weeks, as many as 40 at a time gangbangers. I want to expand it. I want to triple it both in the city, but also take it out in the suburbs, like Maywood, and other infested areas like Harvey and Markham. If we take it out there, I guarantee the homicide rate is going to plummet below 400. We'll lower it down to 300 and keep attacking.
I also want to conduct more of these summits in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods. In these summits, I want to include school superintendents, teachers, community activists, police and prosecutors to openly talk about gangs, guns, drugs and violence in the streets. This will do a couple of things. Number one, we'll get information that we need in order to attack this and the people who are out there. Number two, we'll show them we mean business. There is some mistrust, especially in minority communities, with law enforcement. … Well, they are going to see me every single month. I'm going to hear from them and answer some tough questions, too. The key is that I'm not going to wait for some kid to get gunned down at a candy store before I take action. I'm going to preempt it.
The other thing that I'd like to create is an Internet predator unit. It's out there. All you have to do is watch MSNBC at any given time to see what's going on out there. These guys are using the Internet to go after kids. We don't have that unit, and I want one right away.
WCT: Your opponents are making law enforcement and police brutality and misconduct a huge issue. Your office has done a lot to tackle that over the years. What are some of your ideas to continue that?
BM: My first idea, especially for public corruption, is to expand our public corruption unit. I would dedicate more money to both prosecutor jobs and investigator jobs and also reach out to investigators with a financial background. These are pretty complex, so I'd like to expand our unit. But I'm also pretty proud of what we've done so far. A lot of people say the Cook County State's Attorney's Office hasn't done anything, but that's just not true. In the nine years that I've been in top positions, we've indicted 150 police officers for crimes ranging from theft and murder. I've led the investigation into the seven special operations officers that we recently took down. People don't realize, but to me, I think it's one of the biggest police corruption cases ever. These guys were doing home invasions and armed robberies. We convicted a police officer recently of first-degree murder. … I want to preface everything I'm saying by saying that the overwhelming majority of officers I work with are awesome people.
WCT: It's just that few.
BM: The problem ones, in my opinion, are painting the police with too broad of brush. The overwhelming 99.9 percent are some of the best people you would want to meet, and are dedicated. But when they do push the envelope or break the law, I won't hesitate to go after them. In regard to public corruption, it's the same thing. We recently sent a school superintendent to prison. We indicted a woman … for ripping off the county. I could go on and on. Also, sometimes people forget, but we went into a police department and took all their murder files and hall their rape kits—the Harvey police department. Our office went in when they realized they weren't working the cases up. When was the last time a local prosecutors office went in and took all the files of a police department? So, I'm very proud of our record. I'm very proud of our office record, and my personal record in addressing both of these issues.
WCT: What are some of your experiences working with or on behalf of the LGBT community, and some of your ideas, if elected to office, affect our community?
BM: Before there was ever hate-crimes law, I prosecuted a hate-crime case. I'll never forget my first experience. I was out in the Markham Courthouse and a young man was in the forest preserves out in the Southwest suburbs. He was beaten badly by two men, simply because he was gay. And the end of the meeting, they actually took a stick and put it in his ear and shattered his eardrum. I'll never forget the case. That was before the hate-crimes statute even existed. It was an aggravated battery, and we convicted both of them, but to me, the motive made it far worse—the fact that they did this simply because of this young man's sexual orientation.
… The thing people should realize with hate crimes, whether it is a gay and lesbian issue, or based on race or religion, is that by making motive an element, you actually make the case tougher for us. … We need to talk to people, educate them on what our thought process is and why we do or don't charge in a particular case.
WCT: Budget cuts have definitely impacted your office. Do you have any plans to bring back community prosecution offices?
BM: Absolutely, I would bring it back. Most importantly, because communities really like it, are those summits I was talking about earlier. Those meetings and getting out there in the community just goes a long way. They don't know you. People should know who we are, and they should know who the most prominent men and women in our office are. … They don't, and it's because we aren't out there enough. I would absolutely open up community prosecution again, but most important, conducting these monthly meetings can go a long way.
WCT: What do you think your biggest advantage is over your opponents? You are also running against one of you colleagues [ Anita Alvarez ] .
BM: It's experience and leadership. Nobody can tough what I've done. Nobody. Not a single candidate. When I went over earlier going over wrongful convictions, creating a DNA review unit, reducing hundreds of two-year-old cases, fighting for our own people, none of them, not the other person in this office, not the alderman or the commissioner—there isn't a person who can stand up and say they've done what I've done, and I'm very proud of it. I commend all of my opponents. At some point in their career, at some point, worked for the people in various different jobs. I commend all of them and have respect for all of them. But for this job, it's not a close call. Nobody can touch me. I usually don't talk like that, but in this it's frustrating to be a 21-year person and the top guy and do all that I've done and they say, 'Well this is what I would have done. Well, where have you been for 21 years?' There's some frustration, but I feel very strongly that I'm the best person for the job.
