In a shocking move that sparked national outrage, an Illinois judge who overturned a teenager’s sexual assault conviction has been removed from the courtroom.
Robert Adrian removed him from the seven-member Illinois Courts Commission on Friday for overturning then-18-year-old Drew Clinton’s conviction during a January 2022 sentencing hearing. As a result, he will be retiring from his position as a judge.
Adrian found Clinton guilty of sexually assaulting 16-year-old Cameron Vaughn, who was found unconscious at a 2021 graduation party.
But when it came time to sentence the convicted sex offender, the judge suddenly had a change of heart. Adrian testified that Clinton felt he had already served his sentence, having already served nearly five months in county jail while the case progressed through court.
However, the judge did not follow the law, which states that a conviction must result in at least four years in prison, and that sentence must be imposed.
The committee’s report detailing the committee’s decision to expel the veteran judge said Adrian could “avoid the law” by revisiting the previous verdict and acquitting Clinton. He decided it was his only option.
Adrian said at sentencing that prosecutors “failed to prove their case” after presenting the “non-problem” option of sending the boy to prison.
The shocking move not only outraged Vaughan and her family, but also anti-sexual violence activists. Feeling that the justice system had failed him, the distraught teenager was moved by the incident and decided to go public with his story.
“I woke up at a friend’s house with a pillow over my face so I couldn’t hear, and inside me was Drew Clinton,” Vaughn said at the time. WGEM reported.
“I kept asking him to stop, but he wouldn’t. When I finally got up from the couch and pushed him away from me, he jumped up and started playing video games like nothing had happened. ” she said.
An online petition calling for the judge’s removal has garnered more than 170,000 signatures.
The commission found that Adrian “deliberately overturned the conviction in order to avoid the mandatory prison sentence imposed on Mr. Clinton.”
Furthermore, the judge, who was removed from presiding over criminal cases the week after the reversal, said he did not believe that Ms. Clinton was innocent, but that the sexual assault she committed as a teenager, with no criminal record, would result in a prison sentence. He added that he believed he was undeserving. His claim that the state could not prove the case was a “sham,” the commission said.
“[Adrian] “By refusing to faithfully apply the law, he abused his position as a judge in criminal cases to satisfy his own sense of justice,” the commission said in its findings.
The panel also found Adrian guilty of lying about his motives for reversing the verdict based on sworn testimony during the Illinois Judicial Review Commission’s investigation into the matter.
The commission also found that prosecutors were wrongly removed from the courtroom in retaliation for liking social media posts critical of Adrian.
“Such intentional, dishonest, and massive misconduct is [Adrian’s] “It is a complete disregard for truth, justice and the judicial system,” the commission wrote in its decision, adding that his misconduct “severely undermined the integrity of the judiciary.”
Adrian is only the fourth judge the commission has removed from the bench since 2003, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The former judge spoke to the Tribune on Friday and defended his record.
He said of his dismissal, “It was a complete miscarriage of justice.” “I did the right thing. I’ve always told the truth about it.”
Meanwhile, Clinton’s victims said they were thrilled with the decision.
“I was very happy that the committee was able to see through all the mistakes and lies that he has been telling,” Vaughan told a local newspaper. I’m incredibly happy now. He cannot hurt others. He cannot ruin other people’s lives. ”
Under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Clinton cannot be retried on the same charges. His request to expunge his record was denied in February 2023.
