Boone County benefits from a case of sibling rivalry
By Tricia Goecks
EditorBoone County’s retiring Public Defender Azhar Minhas’ entry into the legal world began as a challenge between two brothers.
In 1982, Minhas was an entomologist and teaching biology as a university professor in Adelaide, Australia. On a visit to see his brother, a nephrologist in South Elgin, he vaguely mentioned that he might like to study law someday. Minhas’ brother challenged him to take the LSAT (law school admission test) by saying “you think you are a smart guy. I bet you cannot do it.”
The pair drove down to Champaign, Ill. and Minhas took the LSAT exam as a walk in candidate and later spoke to admission officials at Northern Illinois University.
“I forgot about it,” Minhas said of what he thought was little more than an interesting diversion while on vacation.
Minhas continued his trip to visit their sister in Nairobi, Kenya when his brother called with the LSAT results. “He calls me and said ‘by the way you passed the LSAT.’ I asked how I did, he said ‘good.’ I proved my point,” Minhas recalled. “We go home and there was an invitation for me to go to NIU.”
“I never applied, but there it was.”
After discussing the matter with his wife at the time, they packed up everything and moved to the United States and Minhas enrolled in law school at NIU.
As a third year law school student, Minhas began an internship in 1988 with David Towns who was the Boone County first Public Defender. At that time, the Public Defender’s office was a part time position and Towns also worked as a private attorney for other clients.
When Towns decided to run for State’s Attorney, he resigned his role as Public Defender and Dave King replaced him. The case files were packed into bankers boxes and given to King and Minhas. They loaded up the files into the back of their vehicles. Each day they unloaded the relevant boxes and carried them up to the library at the Boone County Courthouse where they met with clients. The two attorneys eventually found permanent space at the PNC Bank Building at 130 S. State Street in Belvidere.
As the workload increased, it became impossible to maintain a private practice as Minhas would simultaneously have court calls in Boone and Kane Counties. “This concession of being able to earn a living through private practice was an illusion,” Minhas said, and he dedicated himself to the Public Defender’s office.
AND THEN CAME A GIFT IN THE FORM OF GOVERNOR GEORGE RYAN
“No matter what else you might think of him, he did the citizens of Illinois a great service when he looked into capital punishment,” Minhas said. “George Ryan’s reforms of death penalty were the most significant step in the criminal justice process in God knows how many years.”
After the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 in the State of Illinois, a group of law students from Northwestern University were able to successfully overturn the convictions of several death row inmates. In all, the convictions of 17 death row inmates were eventually overturned based on the efforts of the Northwestern University students and other attorneys. In 1999, Ryan placed a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois.
“When George Ryan took over, there were some 34 people on death row. Subsequently 17 of those were exonerated. Now what would you call the system that has a failure rate of more than 50%?” Minhas asked. “Why? Lack of resources.”
“Private attorneys, you cannot pay them enough to do a death case. By law you have to appoint an attorney. Any good attorney in their right mind will not accept an appointment on a death case. Economically it is a lose-lose proposition. The system was left with giving down and out attorneys who could not make a living any other way to represent these people who were facing death. You get what you pay for.”
“Death cases are a category all entirely their own. They have all kinds of different rules and things that kick in. Unless you know the ins and outs of it, your client is going to be hanging. And that is what was going on,” Minhas said. “Some of the attorneys they have been seen to be sleeping during trials. They are old. They are infirm. There is no other way to make a living. They get appointed to these and they fall asleep and people are dying.”
With the reforms put in place by Ryan, a master roll was assembled of attorneys who had sufficient education and background to handle death penalty cases. Minhas was the only attorney in Boone County who qualified and he handled two cases before the death penalty was abolished in Illinois by Governor Pat Quinn.
Among the reforms to the criminal justice system under Ryan’s administration was a recognition that the poor were being denied adequate legal representation. “George Ryan gave the citizens of Illinois a gift. He passed legislation that for the first time determined the value of a defender in terms of money,” Minhas said. In addition to setting the minimum pay scale for Illinois public defenders, the state also picked up the tab for 2/3 of the cost.
With adequate funding for the Public Defender’s office, the Boone County Public Defender’s office became full time. The office currently has four attorneys: Carie Poirier, Aaron Busemi, Kathryn Cross and Robert Bigelow. In addition, Susan Cooper, Nadine Steinke and Terrie Jackson work in the Boone County Public Defender’s office.
As Public Defender, Minhas praised the Boone County Sheriff’s and Belvidere Police Departments. “At 23 years I can tell you this much, the police find the right person on the whole. The right person in the sense that this is a person who did offend the law,” Minhas said.
He views his role as making sure that his client is charged under the correct law and that proper rules are followed. “I walk into Walmart steal something and walk out. What crime did I commit?” Minhas queried. Shoplifting. Retail theft.
“But under the law it can also be a burglary because it is entering without authority into the building of another with the intent to commit a theft,” Minhas explained “If it is shoplifting it is a Class A misdemeanor, a year in local jail. If it is burglary, that the same person for the same action could be sitting in the Department of Corrections. Burglary is a Class 2 felony with a minimum sentence of three years. It could be as much as seven years”.
SERVING THE CITIZENS OF BOONE COUNTY
Often times, defense attorneys are asked how they can defend murders, rapists and child molesters in good conscience. “I am no friend of the child molester or drug dealer,” Minhas said. “All I care is that they go to Hell. But I will make sure that the road to Hell is made of the law. That is my job.”
Of the clients that Minhas and the Public Defender’s office have represented, he views them as his fellow citizens and neighbors. While not making excuses for their actions, he attempted to understand what happened. Many times, that involved getting his clients help for their drug or alcohol addiction or mental health counseling.
Minhas worked hard to help establish a Drug Court in Boone County. The Drug Court is a voluntary program for offenders. Through the program, clients have a higher degree of accountability to the court to undergo drug testing and participate in drug or alcohol outpatient services. The mission is to reduce the overall crime rate while helping the clients get their lives on track.
“If I can help alleviate the problem I think I have helped the community,” Minhas said. He spoke with pride of seeing his former clients and learning that they are on a different path in life and are now working full time, married and have children.
Minhas retired from the Public Defender’s office on Jan. 10. He looked forward to taking his first vacation in three years. Poirier took the oath of office as Minhas’ replacement.
A native of Lahore, Pakistan and having worked in the brutally hot Adelaide, Australia for 20 years, Minhas looked forward to escaping the northern Illinois winter.
Boone County benefits from a case of sibling... - Belvidere Daily Republican
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