Will County State’s Attorney’s Office Trial Team: People v. Vaughn

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August 10

The Will County State’s Attorney Office is releasing the following biographical information of the four experienced trial attorneys who will prosecute Case Number 07CF1308, People v. Vaughn.

Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald

Michael Fitzgerald

Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald is the chief of State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Felony Division.  In this role, he supervises 26 assistant state’s attorneys who prosecute approximately 3,000 new felony cases each year, ranging from first-degree murder to retail theft. Fitzgerald has been with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office for 13 years during which has prosecuted every kind of felony case.  He helped secure a first-degree murder conviction against a Joliet man who shot and killed a father who was walking to a store with his two young sons. He also helped obtain a murder conviction against a Mokena teenager who killed his 4-year-old sister by slicing her neck with a kitchen knife. In addition, he secured convictions against two individuals who coordinated and/or carried out a murder and home invasion that left one man dead from gunshot wounds and another woman injured in southwest suburban Channahon.  Fitzgerald served as a felony courtroom supervisor and as co-chief of the State’s Attorney’s Office Major Crimes Prosecution Unit.  He also served for three years as a prosecutor with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Fitzgerald received his law degree from DePaul University School of Law.

Assistant State’s Attorney Debbie Mills

Debbie MillsAssistant State’s Attorney Debbie Mills is the chief of State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Misdemeanor Division. Before coming to Will County, Mills worked as a prosecutor in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office for five years where she prosecuted a wide range of cases including both misdemeanors and felonies. Mills joined the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office in 2002 and served as Supervisor of the Complaint/Grand Jury Division before becoming the Misdemeanor Division chief in 2004. In addition to supervising her division, Mills actively prosecutes many felony cases. Most recently, she secured a conviction in a hotly contested case involving a drunken driver who crashed his vehicle, killing his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son who was sleeping in the back seat in southsuburan Steger.  Mills received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse and her law degree from DePaul University College of Law. 

Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Long

Jim LongAssistant State’s Attorney Jim Long has been a prosecutor with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office since 2003.  Long currently serves as a supervising attorney in a felony courtroom, where he has successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases ranging from murder to robbery to rape.  Long secured convictions against a son who physically abused and murdered his aging father and attempted to cover it up as an accident as well as a man who shot and killed a man walking out of convenience store in Joliet. Long graduated from Saint Mary University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in international business. He is also a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law. Before joining the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, Long interned with a District Attorney’s Office in Oregon and at the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Regis

Chris RegisAssistant State’s Attorney Chris Regis has worked at the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office since 2003.  Before becoming a prosecutor, Regis served as an officer for the Joliet Police Department from 1991 to 2000. Since joining the State’s Attorney’s office, Regis has successfully prosecuted numerous felonies, including many murder cases.  He also has secured convictions against local gang members in gang-related shootings as well as a Florida man who traveled to Illinois and sexually abused a minor. Regis is a graduate of Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. He earned his law degree from Marquette University Law School.