Warrants are public record
Search warrants obtained by law enforcement agencies in Illinois are a matter of public record after they’ve been executed and returned to the courts, with few exceptions.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan says so.
Illinois courts have said so.
In McHenry County, however, that hasn’t been the case. In fact, the vast majority of search warrants issued and returned in McHenry County this year – 107 of 140, or more than 76 percent – are sealed from public viewing. Last year, 84 of 98 – about 86 percent – were sealed.
Comparatively, in Kane County, four of 237 search warrants, or fewer than 2 percent, are sealed.
Why are so many returned search warrants and accompanying affidavits sealed from public viewing in McHenry County? Because opening the records would in some way compromise an ongoing investigation? No, said Nichole Owens, chief of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office Criminal Division.
“I’d say nine times out of 10 when the search warrant is returned, the investigation is over,” Owens told us for a story published in Sunday’s Northwest Herald.
Then why?
“As a practical matter, many of them haven’t been opened,” State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi said.
As a matter of open government and the need for our judicial system to be held accountable by the public, it’s a practice that has to end. Now.
Bianchi told us that he does want to reverse course on the local trend. We’re happy to hear that, but we also plan to hold him to it.
By sealing so many search warrants for no valid reason, there’s no way the public can know whether its judicial system is acting properly in obtaining them.
And the few returned search warrants that have been unsealed locally also are hard to find. McHenry County Circuit Clerk Kathy Keefe said her office is in the process of fixing that. We’ll be checking back with the clerk as well.
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