Birkett Looks Back On 29 Years In State's Attorney Office
(WBBM) - Friday is Joe Birkett's last day as DuPage County state's attorney. Next week he will be sworn in as an Illinois appellate justice.
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It is the only job Birkett has known -- until now. He became an assistant state's attorney fresh out of John Marshall Law School in 1981. At the time, he told his wife that he expected to stay with the DuPage County state's attorney's office for five years.
He said he had a number of opportunities to enter private practice but said they always came when he was "in transition" at the state's attorney's office, and advised friends to take the jobs instead.
He said he has no regrets.
Birkett said that during his 29 years in the state's attorney's office, the prosecutor's job has changed.
"The prosecutor is now looked upon as a real force for the community, as a force for law enforcement, not just filling that role as prosecuting the cases that come to his or her attention," he said.
He said he is proud of the advocacy he's done for crime victims, and reshaping DuPage County's approach to juvenile justice system, drug court and mental health court. He said the Jeanine Nicarico murder alone prompted creation of a major crimes task force, protocols on evidence collection in murder cases, changes in training, videotaping of murder interrogations and a law mandating the collection of DNA from convicted felons.
Birkett is outspoken in his belief that Illinois should maintain the death penalty, even though no governor in Illinois has signed a death warrant since George Ryan ordered the execution of Andrew Kokoraelis to go forward in 1999. A year later, Ryan imposed the moratorium and in January 2003 he emptied Death Row. The moratorium remains in place, although 15 inmates convicted since January 2003 sit on Illinois' Death Row today.
He said you need look no further than the Jeanine Nicarico case and killer Brian Dugan.
"When he was arrested, he started crying in the back set of the car, expressing his fear of the death penalty. That was his number one fear," Birkett said.
He said to this day it remains a fixation with Dugan, showing that the death penalty is a deterrent.
Birkett held out for years, refusing to cut a deal that spared Dugan from lethal injection. Dugan was sentenced to death last year.
He said he sees plenty of other proof that the death penalty is an effective deterrent. One example he cites is the death penalty attached to killing a police officer. He said it has prompted countless gangbangers to lay down their arms when confronted by police -- saving lives.
Birkett said the job of state's attorney has required him to weigh the merits of various criminal and civil cases -- work not unlike what he will be required to do on the bench. Nonetheless, he said he has been doing his homework for his new job.
In addition to meeting with retiring Appellate Justice Jack O'Malley, the former Cook County state's attorney whom Birkett is replacing, and having lunch with Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Bob Thomas, who began his judicial career on the DuPage County bench, Birkett said he has sought out advice from judges at both the county and federal level across Illinois.
And he has had to read plenty of briefs because he is taking no vacation. He will be sworn in Monday and hear his first oral arguments Tuesday.
DuPage County officials are weighing a list of seven possible replacements to fill out Birkett's term as state's attorney, which expires in 2012. Birkett will appear on the ballot then -- for retention as appellate judge.
