[Peace] Hjort of the hook

[Brian Dolinar]

Watts up with this?  How should we proceed?
We should have seen it coming.  
 
Peace and Justice, BD
 
Prosecutor not charging former officer 
	
	 	  	 By MARY SCHENK
© 2005 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online October 18, 2005


   URBANA - A special prosecutor assigned to review the conduct of an Urbana police officer accused of raping a woman has decided not to file any criminal charges against him.
   Urbana attorney Jim Dedman, appointed almost 12 weeks ago as a special prosecutor in the case of Kurt Hjort, said Monday he talked to the victim and Hjort personally and reviewed reports prepared by Illinois State Police detectives and Hjort's personnel records in arriving at his decision.
   "My final conclusion is that the case for aggravated criminal sexual assault and official misconduct cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Further, and of great significance to me, is the fact that Kurt Hjort has resigned his position with the Urbana Police Department," Dedman said in a written report filed with the Champaign County circuit clerk.
   Dedman declined to say whether his decision was affected by a multimillion-dollar civil rights lawsuit filed Oct. 6 by the alleged victim, Amber Grohall, in U.S. District Court in Urbana.
   Presiding Judge Michael McCuskey has already transferred the suit to Judge Michael Mihm in the Peoria division because Hjort, 44, of rural Rantoul also used to work as a part-time prisoner guard at the federal courthouse in downtown Urbana and is known to employees there. He no longer holds that job, and he resigned his 15-year job at the police department on Sept. 21.
   In the federal suit, Grohall, 25, alleges that her 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law was violated by Hjort on July 22, 2005, when he came to her Urbana home and had sex with her against her will while he was on duty as an Urbana police officer.
   She alleges she was sexually harassed by Hjort, whom she had met for the first time earlier that day at the Urbana convenience store where she was working her first day.
   In the federal lawsuit, Grohall's Peoria attorney Ralph Davis referred to "at least three prior incidents of sexual misconduct" by Hjort "while on duty using his authority as a police officer." The suit also names Urbana police Chief Eddie Adair and the city as defendants.
   Those were the subject of internal investigations by Urbana police and Dedman, a former state's attorney and a veteran defense attorney who has tried many cases, said he saw the reports about all those incidents as well.
   None would have been admissible in a criminal prosecution involving Hjort and Grohall, Dedman maintained.
   "The modus operandi in Illinois requires ... that the acts have to fit a certain pattern, not a general pattern," Dedman said, adding that he would not have sought to introduce them, feeling confident a judge would not allow it.
   "There's a big difference between criminal sexual assault and sexual harassment," Dedman said.
   Davis, attorney for Grohall, said earlier this month he felt confident that Dedman did not plan to prosecute HJort and that's why he went ahead and filed the civil rights lawsuit. He had no comment about Dedman's decision not to prosecute Hjort criminally.
   Carol Dison, the Urbana attorney representing Hjort, could not be reached for comment.
 
Brian Dolinar
Claremont Graduate University
204 S. Lynn St.
Champaign, IL 61820
brian.dolinar at cgu.edu
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