Third District Appellate Court Hearing – February 16, 2011

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January 15

Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow is the lead prosecutor in the murder trial of Drew Peterson and will deliver the rebuttal argument during Wednesday’s Third District Appellate Court hearing.

State’s Attorney Glasgow has a long and distinguished career during which he has implemented groundbreaking initiatives to investigate, prosecute and prevent crime. State’s Attorney Glasgow:

  • Formed Will County’s first Gang Prosecution Unit and organized gang sweeps that dramatically reduced local gang shootings in the early 1990s.
  • Pioneered Will County’s first Specialized Domestic Violence Court, which mandated abuser counseling to break the destructive cycle of violence.
  • Obtained $1.5 million in federal funding to enable prosecutors, police and victim advocates to battle domestic violence.
  • Established the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center to stop child sexual predators in their tracks.
  • Spearheaded the creation of the Will County Drug Court, which was selected as one of the top 10 programs in the nation.
  • Wrote the Animal Torture Statute, which created the first felony charge in Illinois for the abuse of animals.

In his long history with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, Glasgow served as a lead prosecutor in both the Misdemeanor and Felony Trial Divisions. He has successfully prosecuted felony criminal cases ranging from retail theft to first-degree murder. In addition, he secured jury convictions in three death-penalty cases. Two of those convictions in the 1990s were against Gregory Shaw and Elton Williams. Both were convicted of shooting Crest Hill Police Officer Timothy Simenson. 

Glasgow served as Will County’s elected State’s Attorney from 1992–2000, and once again as the elected State’s Attorney from 2004 to the present. He currently is serving his fourth term. He received his Juris Doctor from Northern Illinois Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois. He has been practicing law since 1981.

Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Griffin

Assistant State's Attorney Colleen Griffin

Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Griffin

Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Griffin has honed her expertise in the area of post conviction and appellate court work over a legal career that spans 23 years. She will argue the state’s case during Wednesday’s Third District Appellate Court hearing. 

Prior to accepting a position with Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s office, Griffin served eight years with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, where she was assigned to the Criminal Appeals Division. While working for the Attorney General, she argued before the Illinois Supreme Court as well as before various Appellate Courts throughout Illinois. She also appeared in judicial circuits across the state on state habeas corpus and post-conviction matters.  

As an Assistant Attorney General, Griffin also handled federal habeas corpus actions in Federal District Court and before the U.S. Appellate Court for the Seventh Circuit. She has argued numerous cases in the Seventh Circuit. In addition she served as Second Chair before the U.S. Supreme Court in McArthur v. Illinois, 531 U.S. 326 (2001) for which she drafted the petition for Writ of Certiorari.

Griffin also served in the Illinois Appellate Court’s Office for nine years where she conducted research and wrote opinions and Supreme Court Rule 23 orders for Appellate Court Justices in the First Appellate District.  

She also served for two years in the Illinois Appellate Prosecutors Office where she wrote Appellate Court Briefs and argued before the Second District Appellate Court for the various counties within that district.    

Griffin received her law degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago in 1988. She has worked for the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office for four years as a prosecutor in State’s Attorney Glasgow’s Narcotics Unit. Late last year, she took over Post Conviction and Appellate Court duties on behalf of the office.