AG asks state Supreme Court to order sentence in sex assault

CHICAGO (AP) — The state attorney general’s office has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to impose a sentence in a case where a western Illinois judge threw out the sexual assault conviction of an 18-year-old man.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a mandamus complaint and a motion for supervisory order Thursday asking the state’s highest court to order Judge Robert K. Adrian to sentence Drew S. Clinton in accordance with state law.

Adrian presided over a three-day bench trial in which Clinton was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at a graduation party in Quincy in May. After originally finding Clinton guilty on one count of criminal sexual assault in October, Adrian threw out the conviction last month when Clinton appeared for sentencing, saying there had been “plenty of punishment” and that he wouldn’t impose the mandatory minimum sentence of four years in prison.

The case sparked wide outrage.

Raoul said that the mandatory sentencing range set by the Illinois General Assembly for felony criminal sexual assault is four to 15 years in prison.

“In addition to the insensitivity to the victim in this case, the judge’s decision to vacate the conviction and call the 148 days Clinton served in county jail ‘plenty of punishment,’ demonstrates an abuse of power,” Raoul said a statement.

Last month, Adrian was reassigned to small claims, legal matters and probate documents instead of presiding over the criminal docket.