Richard A. Napolitano v. Hon. Daniel P. Ward, Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court

457 F.2d 279
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedApril 24, 1972
Docket71-1444
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 457 F.2d 279 (Richard A. Napolitano v. Hon. Daniel P. Ward, Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richard A. Napolitano v. Hon. Daniel P. Ward, Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, 457 F.2d 279 (7th Cir. 1972).

Opinion

DUFFY, Senior Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court dismissing plaintiff’s amended complaint and his cause of action. 1

The plaintiff-appellant was duly elected a Circuit Judge, Cook County, Illinois, in 1968. He was removed from office “for cause” by the Illinois Courts Commission 2 on July 14, 1970.

The instant suit is based on the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1983) and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2201 and 2202. The defendants are the five judicial members of the Illinois Courts Commission, its secretary and the Attorney General of Illinois.

Plaintiff claims that his removal from the office of Circuit Judge, under color of Section 18 of Article VI of the Illinois Constitution and Rule 51, Rules of the Supreme Court of Illinois, deprived him of his rights under the Self-Incrimination and Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, United States Constitution.

In September 1969, the Sangamon County, Illinois Grand Jury began an investigation into charges relating to the administration and management of the Illinois State Fair. Judge Napolitano was called as a witness by the Grand Jury. On advice of counsel, he refused to answer any questions as to his business dealings with the State Fair on the ground that any answers might tend to incriminate him.

Upon motion of the State’s Attorney, Judge Napolitano was granted full transactional immunity in return for his testimony before the Grand Jury.

In his testimony before the Grand Jury, Judge Napolitano outlined his business dealings with the State Fair Management. This testimony related to the procedures whereby appellant secured 42 contracts for concession space at the State Fairs for each year of 1961 to 1969. The appellant usually sublet most of the locations but kept nine or ten spaces for himself.

*282 The Grand Jury returned several indictments charging various State Fair officials with official misconduct and conspiracy. The appellant was named as a non-indicted co-conspirator.

At the direction of the Supreme Court of Illinois, appellant was relieved of all assignments on February 5, 1970. On February 13, 1970, the Illinois Courts Commission designated the Attorney General of Illinois to prepare and file a complaint against the appellant. This was done on March 19, 1970, charging him with impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in violation of the Canons of Judicial Ethics.

Beginning July 7, 1970, a formal hearing was had before the Illinois Courts Commission on these charges. Appellant was present and was represented by counsel. Documentary evidence, including the transcript of appellant's testimony before the Grand Jury, was considered.

On July 14, 1970, the Courts Commission found the evidence to be clear and convincing that appellant’s conduct “ . . . violates applicable Canons of Judicial Ethics including Canon 4 of the Canons of Ethics adopted by the Illinois Judicial Conference and constitutes cause within the meaning of Section 18, Article 6 of the Illinois Constitution warranting his removal from office.” 3

An appeal was taken from this decision to the Supreme Court of Illinois. That Court held that the right of appeal to that Court did not exist, holding the proceedings before the Commission to be sui generis.

Appellant then attempted to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. That Court dismissed the appeal for want of a federal question. In re Na-politano, 401 U.S. 951, 91 S.Ct. 978, 28 L.Ed.2d 235 (1971), Justice Brennan would have dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

Prior to the hearing before the Illinois Courts Commission, appellant filed a motion with the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Commission hearing, and further requesting the convening of a three-judge court, alleging a violation of his civil rights.

The motion for a temporary restraining order was denied by the single Judge before whom the suit was filed.

A three-judge panel was convened and affirmed the dismissal of denial of the temporary restraining order. The three-judge panel then terminated the panel and remanded the case to the single judge for a determination of the factual issues raised in the complaint. Napolitano v. Ward, 317 F.Supp. 79 (N.D.Ill., 1970).

On March 26, 1971, the District Court dismissed appellant’s amended complaint with prejudice and entered judgment in favor of defendants-appellees. It is from this order that the appellant now appeals.

On this appeal, appellant asserts his primary argument before us is “for Declaratory Relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 and then such further relief as will vindicate the injury to plaintiff and redress defendants’ violations of the Constitution of the United States.”

The principal issue before us is whether the conduct for which appellant was removed from office may be established by the Courts Commission from the use of his testimony before a Grand Jury compelled by a grant of full transactional immunity.

The Fifth Amendment provides that “No person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” The Fifth *283 Amendment privilege against self-incrimination thus protects an individual from being a witness against himself in a criminal matter and is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 84 S.Ct. 1489, 12 L.Ed.2d 653 (1964). The privilege may be invoked in any proceeding against an individual, either civil or criminal, in which testimony or evidence is requested of that individual which could expose him to later criminal prosecution.

The thrust of the Constitutional privilege against self-incrimination has two interrelated objectives, “The Government may not use compulsion to elicit self-incriminating statements, and the Government may not permit use in a criminal trial of self-incriminating statements elicited by compulsion.” Murphy v. Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, 378 U.S. 52, 57 n. 6, 84 S.Ct. 1594, 1598 n. 6, 12 L.Ed.2d 678 (1964). The privilege is directed at insulating an individual from criminal penalties imposed from testimony or evidence said individual was compelled to give, either by physical or mental coercion, Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532, 18 S.Ct. 183, 42 L.Ed.

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