Group of cases involving a controversial former Chicago police detective who is married to a judge are moved out of Cook County
Cook County judges will no longer preside over eight cases involving a controversial former Chicago police detective who is married to one of their fellow judges, the Tribune has learned.
Cases related to ex-detective Kriston Kato will be moved to Will County, the state Supreme Court wrote in an order entered last month.
Kato has been married to Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan since 2006, at which point she already was a judge in the Criminal Division at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
Criminal Division Presiding Judge Erica Reddick made the decision to remove the cases, officials said, saying she acted to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
“The appearance of a conflict arises from the fact that a primary witness in each case is a retired police detective who is the spouse of a judge who supervises felony trial judges,” the office of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans wrote in a statement on the matter.
“In each case, the witness is alleged by the defense to have engaged in some form of physical or other coercive conduct against the defendant. The witness is also the defendant in a federal civil rights case in which the witness is alleged to have engaged in the same or similar conduct.”
Kato has been the target of complaints alleging excessive force dating to the 1990s.
But for years, other judges in the building have routinely presided over cases in which Kato played a role. The decision to disqualify all of them due to their colleague’s marriage is far more sweeping, and could present significant logistical challenges. In court last month, prosecutors estimated that Kato has had involvement in some 500 cases over the years.
Among them is the case of Kevin Murray, who alleges Kato beat him into falsely confessing to murder.
Murray was on the brink of a hearing on those claims that could have won him a new trial. But just before the hearing was scheduled, Reddick said that to avoid even the appearance of an issue, she would be asking for an out-of-county judge to hear Murray’s case and others involving Kato.
“I was fully ready, and we were planning to commence very shortly, and — but upon my becoming aware of these circumstances, I am required to act in a way that honors our ethical obligations as judges,” she said at an April 14 hearing, according to a transcript.
Neither prosecutors nor Murray’s attorney had requested the recusal, and it is unclear what new circumstances Reddick had become aware of. She was presiding over the Murray case since before her elevation to presiding judge, and hinted that in her new role she had access to “a whole different amount of information.”
“It directly affects what I believe to be fundamental fairness and due process issues that revolve around ethics,” she said from the bench.
Karl Leonard, Murray’s attorney, told the Tribune he understood the appearance of a conflict but was frustrated that this would cause yet another delay for his client, who has been in custody since 1988. The evidentiary hearing had already been postponed multiple times, he said, and now they might need to start completely over with a new judge.
“What Judge Reddick said is there’s an appearance of impropriety at the very least to have colleagues opining on the credibility of a colleague’s spouse. I have a serious question about why there’s an appearance of impropriety about that today but there wasn’t last year or the year before that or in the 15-some years that Judge Brosnahan has been married to Detective Kato,” he said.
“I think yes, there is the potential for the appearance of impropriety, however, I think that in our effort to make sure we have the appearance of justice we need to make sure we have actual justice too, and the problem is, Kevin Murray can’t even get his day in court.”
On April 30, the state Supreme Court issued its order giving the chief judge of Will County authority over the eight Cook County cases, including Murray’s. Moving a case out of county is somewhat rare; the last time it occurred was in 2018.
But the decision’s effects may extend beyond the eight cases that were officially moved. It could pave the way for other defendants with Kato-related cases to try to get those cases revisited, citing the new decision about Cook County judges’ conflict of interest.
The Leighton criminal courthouse is a small world, Leonard said, and Reddick’s decision is understandable, he just doesn’t understand why this only recently became an issue.
“What’s changed? So many judges … are former prosecutors, are former defense attorneys, they know each other, they’re friendly with each other,” he said, “that’s just part of it, that’s expected, and judges are expected to set that aside and be fair.”
Reddick was made presiding judge of the Criminal Division in January after her predecessor, Judge LeRoy Martin Jr., was named to the state Appellate Court.
Brosnahan was a Cook County prosecutor for her whole career before she was elected to the bench in 2000. She has been a judge in the Criminal Division for nearly 16 years.
