Error leads to extra 137 days in jail

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted July 28, 2014 2:43 PM

Deangelo Cowper spent an extra 137 days in prison because the Saline County circuit clerk failed to give the Illinois Department of Corrections the correct count for the time he was locked up in the local jail before being handed over to Illinois Department of Corrections to serve a sentence for probation violation. The question of first impression for the Illinois Appellate Court when Cowper sued the county clerk and sheriff for their role in this sentencing blunder was whether the Unified Code of Corrections …

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