John Baricevic

C. John Baricevic is a judge in the state of Illinois. Prior to his work in law, he was an American football coach at the college level in Kansas.

Legal career

Justice Baricevic presides over the Twentieth Judicial Circuit (Fifth Appellate District) in Illinois for the counties of Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair, and Washington.^[1] He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1978.^[2]

Coaching career

Baricevic was the head football coach at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He held that position for four seasons, from 1970 until 1973. His coaching record at Benedictine was 9–20–1.^[3]

Baricevic revived the football program at Benedictine in 1970, where he was later inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame for his work as head coach and his impact on the program.^[4]

Family and politics

Charles John “C.J.” Baricevic, John Baricevic’s son, is a candidate for the House of Representatives elections in Illinois for 2016.^[5]

An FEC complaint filed against C.J. Baricevic on June 28, 2016, mentioned Judge Baricevic. The complaint stated that the legal community contributed more than $246,000 to C.J.’s campaign, “with nearly all of them [the contributors] having appeared in cases before Judge John C. Baricevic, C. J. Baricevic’s father.”^[5]

Regarding Judge Baricevic, the FEC complaint stated, “Given the fact that “Given the fact that C. John Baricevic, C. J. Baricevic’s father, has served on the bench as an Illinois judge for more than a decade, it is not surprising at all that the local legal community, including Keefe, Keefe, and Unsell, would take advantage of a young attorney in order to curry favor with his father who, as chief judge, not only hears a significant number of cases but also assigns cases to each of the judges he oversees.”^[6]

On June 28, 2016, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission alleging that partners and employees at the law firm of attorney Tom Keefe Jr. illegally contributed to Baricevic’s campaign.^[7] “An election watchdog group based in Washington says there’s something suspicious about donations to Metro East congressional candidate C.J. Baricevic by one Belleville law firm,” wrote WMIX-94.^[8]

2016 election

In November 2016, a complaint was filed against Baricevic for his choice to run for election rather than retention. Sitting judges who want to keep their jobs run for retention, which requires 60% of voter approval. However, a candidate for a judge position only needs to get a 50% vote in order to win the race. Baricevic resigned his position, and then ran for the position that he resigned from. He said that his reason for doing this was because he wanted to talk about important issues in the county, "including a drug scandal that was uncovered after one judge died from a cocaine overdose and another was arrested for heroin possession and gun charges." He said that he would not be able to talk about those issues in a retention nonpartisan race.^[9]

References