Here's why a Henry County judge won't sign the order to send Jerni Warner to jail

Judge James Cosby won’t sign an order that would transfer a Kewanee woman, charged with two counts of aggravated DUI, from the custody of the Mary Davis Detention Home to the Henry County Jail, in spite of both sides reaching an agreement over the transfer. The decision came during a motion hearing in Henry County Circuit Court on Wednesday.

Jerni Warner, 18, Kewanee, will remain at the Galesburg facility until both the State and the Defense can prove to the Court that the Illinois statute that covers the housing of minor prisoners can either be waived or doesn’t apply to Warner. The Illinois Statute requires that minors in custody be separated by ”sight, sound and otherwise” from the adult population.

Warner is charged with two counts of aggravated DUI last year following a 2021 Labor Day weekend car accident just outside Kewanee that killed a Moline couple. Warner is accused of driving under the influence of both cocaine and alcohol when her vehicle crossed over the centerline, striking a motorcycle driven by Garry Kelly. His wife, Leah, was a passenger on the motorcycle. The Kellys, both 42, were pronounced dead at the scene.

This isn’t the first time the issue of Warner’s confinement has come before the Court. Warner’s former attorney, William Gullberg, motioned the court in February to keep the defendant confined at the Mary Davis Home once she turned 18. Henry County State’s Attorney Catherine Runty argued at the time that since Warner was now 18, the transfer from the juvenile detention center to the HCJ was appropriate.

But at the time, Judge Cosby disagreed with Runty’s reading of the statute and ordered that Warner remain confined in Galesburg. For medical reasons, Warner’s defense is now motioning for the transfer.

Two motion hearings, one requesting a change in venue and the other to exclude blood and urine tests taken after the accident, were scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, but newly-hired Defense Attorney Kevin Sullivan told the court that he wished to postpone the legal matters for three new motions due to Warner’s health issues. Two of the motions requested furloughs for doctor appointments, including an appointment with an oral surgeon to treat four impacted wisdom teeth.

Sullivan argued in his third motion that moving her to the Henry County Jail would make facilitating those appointments easier. Runty said she had no objections to the furloughs for medical appointments, but the transport and timing from the Mary Davis Detention Home was troublesome. She also had no objection to Warner’s transfer to the jail.

Judge Cosby allowed Warner and her attorney to meet in the jury room with Warner’s mother to discuss the transfer of Warner to Henry County with two Henry County Sheriff’s Deputies present. He also ordered no physical contact between Warner and her mother.

After the brief meeting that lasted less than five minutes, Sullivan told the court that the statute classified his client as a minor, and said the concern was that she would be brought over to Henry County and housed in solitary confinement for 23 hours of the day, calling that “cruel and unusual.”

If she were with only females and allowed to be in the general population with the same privileges and rules, that would be agreeable, Sullivan told the Court.

Judge Cosby said his recollection is that the Illinois Statute had some restrictions and was unsure that even if both sides agreed to her transfer that it can be allowed under the law.

“Can those (restrictions) be waived?” Judge Cosby said. “I’m not prepared to answer that.”

The Judge also told both the State and the Defense that he wasn’t hostile to the idea of transferring the Defendant to the county facility, he just wasn’t confident that the law allowed for Warner, who was 17-years-old when she was charged with the crime, to be housed at the HCJ without restrictions.

The Judge called a recess, while Runty and Sullivan, along with the Defendant, retired to the jury room. When court reconvened, Runty told the Judge that she had spoken with the jail administrator and that she believed the concerns had been alleviated. She asked the court to allow the transfer on Aug. 23 into the full custody of the County. Since Warner is 18, she would be booked in as a regular adult female and be placed in the adult female population. The same rules, expectations and restrictions of other adult female prisoners would apply to Warner, she told the Court.

But Judge Cosby again pushed back, referring to the section of that statute that was the basis for his objection earlier.

“I am not saying no to this,” he said, before requesting Runty reach out to her contacts in Rock Island County to ask if they had encountered this situation before.

Runty told the court that she had contacted the appellate prosecutor and that it was his opinion that Judge Cosby’s interpretation of the statute was not correct.

The Judge told Runty that he needed to ensure that the parties can waive the statute and again told Runty that Rock Island could have the answer.

It’s novel here, he said, but in Rock Island County, I’m sure they have experienced this, the Judge said. “I am totally prepared to be wrong on it,” adding again that he wasn’t hostile to what’s being requested. “I just don’t see where I have the authority.”

The transfer, Cosby said, would be beneficial to both parties, but was hesitant to sign the order.

“We have some time to work on this, yet,” Judge Cosby said.

Sullivan told the court that he would take a deeper look at the statute and case law and said he would reach out to Runty over the next few days.

Judge Cosby ordered the matter held over until Aug. 23, telling both parties that if between now and then, the authority was found, and an agreement was in place, Warner could be transferred into the custody of Henry County that day.

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Here's why Henry Co. judge won't sign order to send Jerni Warner to jail