Judge Hall DUI trial date set for May 7

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Judge David Hall

Updated: March 2, 2012 8:13AM

A Lake County jury won’t get to hear a local judge was driving with a blood-alcohol level of .107 — above the legal limit of .08 — when he goes to trial on DUI and resisting arrest charges this spring.

Circuit Judge David Hall, 59, was arrested on these charges April 26, 2008.

Hall has been a circuit judge in Lake County since 2000. He has not been removed from the bench since his arrest.

Kane County Judge Keith Brown was called upon to preside over the case. Illinois Assistant Attorney General Daniel Nikolic is prosecuting and Waukegan attorneys Jason Mercure and Douglas Zeit are defending Hall.

In a judicial order dated Jan. 3, Brown said Hall’s trial date was moved to May 7, 2012, by agreement from all parties. The same order scheduled a phone conference in the case for Feb. 23.

The Feb. 23 phone conference will be the first time the case is heard in Lake County in almost two years, Mercure noted.

The case had been pending in appellate court over the issue of Hall’s blood-alcohol content evidence until mid-December.

The 2nd Appellate Court upheld Brown’s ruling that Hall’s blood was not taken in the proper manner, so a jury will not hear that Hall was driving with a BAC above the legal limit.

This is not stopping the trial from going forward.

Vernon Hills police stopped Hall around 1:50 a.m. April 26, 2008, after Hall’s car crossed over the lane while eastbound on Route 60, just east of Route 21 in Vernon Hills. Hall failed to get out of the car as ordered by police. Police proceeded to pepper spray Hall, according to a summary of facts in a motion Nikolic filed in 2010.

Hall complained of chest pains and was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. Hall told emergency room staff that alcohol brings on his chest pains, the same motion states. An ER doctor noted in diagnostic code that his patient, Hall, was intoxicated, the motion states.

Emergency room personnel drew Hall’s blood and screened it, but not for alcohol. The blood sample was not screened for alcohol until 18 days later with the .107 results, Nikolic had said.

Hall is also charged with resisting arrest. Although the arresting officer has since died of a heart attack, a backup officer can testify to the incident.