Heuerman named Whiteside County circuit judge

MORRISON – The Illinois Supreme Court appointed an associate judge running unopposed in November for the six-year circuit judgeship that opens this month in Whiteside County, rather than the county’s former state’s attorney, the sole applicant for the position.

Democrat James F. Heuerman, 56, of Sterling, will take the promotion on Jan. 2, replacing fellow Democratic 14th Circuit Judge Stanley Steines, who retires at the end of the year after 17 years on the bench, the state’s high court said in a news release Wednesday.

Former Whiteside County State’s Attorney Gary L. Spencer, 74, a Republican, was the sole applicant for the judgeship, but did not seek election to the post in November, and so if appointed, would have served only 11 months.

The decision was made “to minimize turnover and provide long-term stability for the 14th Judicial Circuit,” according to an email Thursday from the Illinois Courts press office.

It was all a matter of timing. The high court announced it was taking applicants to fill the vacancy, and Spencer applied before Heuerman filed to seek election on Nov. 30.

“The court could not have made a better choice,” Spencer said Thursday in a email.

“I’ve known Jim for many years, and he is a fine lawyer and judge. I will support his candidacy in the 2024 primary for a full six-year term as a resident circuit judge.”

Heuerman was appointed associate judge on Feb. 1, 2019.

He was Whiteside County’s public defender from 2011 to 2019 and was a founding member of the Whiteside County Drug Court team.

He was an assistant state’s attorney under Spencer from 2005 to 2011, and was in private practice from 1993 to 2002 at Pignatelli, Liston & Mertes and Coplan and Heuerman, while also serving part time as an assistant public defender.

Heuerman earned his bachelor of science from the University of Wisconsin and his juris doctor, cum laude, from the Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb.

He is a member of the Whiteside County Bar Association, where he was named Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2000, and of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Spencer was the county’s top prosecutor for 31 1/2 years before stepping down in December 2012. He has been in private practice with Mertes & Mertes in Sterling for nine years.

The 14th Circuit serves Whiteside, Henry, Mercer and Rock Island counties.