Federal judge tosses ex-Joliet mayor’s conspiracy lawsuit

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Joliet mayor against two former police officials and others that alleged he was the victim of a conspiracy in 2020 to subject him to criminal charges.

The ruling on Tuesday in the case filed by attorneys for former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk was based on legal grounds.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Cummings permanently dismissed O’Dekirk’s federal claims but relinquished his jurisdiction over O’Dekirk’s state claims.

Michael Ettinger, one of O’Dekirk’s attorneys, said his team is considering an appeal of Cummings’ decision. But he said the state claims will move to Will County.

“They have been filed [in] federal court, so there is no statute of limitations problem,” Ettinger said.

O’Dekirk’s lawsuit was filed July 19, 2023, about three months after Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy defeated him in a landslide election. The lawsuit listed the following defendants:

• Former Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner

• Roechner’s wife, Nancy Griparis

• Former Joliet Deputy Chief Marc Reid

• Joseph Hosey, executive editor of Shaw Media, which publishes The Herald-News

• Joliet City Council member Pat Mudron

• Former Joliet City Council member Jim McFarland

• City of Joliet

Shaw Media was named as a defendant until O’Dekirk’s attorneys voluntarily dismissed the company from the case Oct. 2, 2023.

In Cummings’ summary of the allegations, he said O’Dekirk claimed the defendants were political opponents who “devised a plan to create political backlash” against him.

The defendants allegedly hoped to spoil O’Dekirk’s bid for a third term in office and subject him to criminal charges, Cummings said.

The alleged plan involved the defendants pressuring former Joliet City Council member Don “Duck” Dickinson into filing a false police report that claimed O’Dekirk threatened to publicly release intimate photos of Dickinson, Cummings said.

O’Dekirk’s lawsuit claimed that Hosey “printed an article” in The Herald-News detailing the allegations of Dickinson’s “allegedly fabricated police report” against O’Dekirk, Cummings said.

Based on the allegations, Cummings ruled that O’Dekirk was never arrested, charged or convicted as a result of the alleged scheme.

The alleged scheme did not deprive O’Dekirk of his liberty nor deprive him of “substantive due process” when he lost the election because public employment is not a fundamental right, Cummings said.

The defendants’ alleged conduct does not “shock the conscience” even though it appears “distasteful, troubling and wrongful,” Cummings said. The defendants were not accused of using physical force or making threats of harm or violence, he said.

Cummings said the world of politics is “not for the faint of heart.” He cited a past federal appellate ruling that said, “The price of political dirty tricks must be collected at the ballot box rather than the courthouse.”

Roechner’s attorney, Ryan Jacobson of the Amundsen Davis law firm, said Cummings’ “application of the law to the facts alleged by O’Dekirk was spot-on and fully expected.”

David Matheus, an attorney retained by the city of Joliet, said the case was a “straightforward matter, and the city appreciates that the court recognized the issues and adhered to the law.”

McFarland’s attorney, John Schrock, said Cummings' ruling was a “big win” for all the defendants. Schrock said McFarland was never at the alleged meeting at Roechner’s house with the other defendants.

“[McFarland] actually has records to show it. ... It’s disappointing to him that he got roped into this when he had nothing to do with it,” Schrock said.

In 2023, Dickinson filed an ongoing lawsuit against Roechner and Reid in Will County over the 2020 incident.