More from the article...
... The Illinois Courts Commission removed Adams County Judge Robert Adrian from the bench Friday after it held a three-day hearing in Chicago in November on a compliant filed against Adrian.
Its decision says Adrian "engaged in multiple instances of misconduct" and "abused his position of power to indulge his own sense of justice while circumventing the law."
The commission could have issued a reprimand, censure or suspension without pay, but its decision said it had "ample grounds" for immediately removing Adrian from the bench in western Illinois' Adams County.
Judge Robert Adrian presides over court on Aug. 26, 2020, in Adams County, Ill. Adrian, who found an 18-year-old man guilty of sexual assaulting a 16-year-old girl, has come under fire after he later threw out the conviction this month, saying the 148 days the man spent in jail was punishment enough. (Jake Shane/Quincy Herald-Whig via AP)
Illinois judge's reversal of rape conviction draws anger
In October 2021, Adrian had found then 18-year-old Drew Clinton of Taylor, Michigan, guilty of sexual assaulting a 16-year-old girl during a May 2021 graduation party.
The state Judicial Inquiry Board filed a complaint against Adrian after the judge threw out Clinton's conviction in January 2022, with the judge saying that the 148 days Clinton had spent in jail was punishment enough.
The complaint said Adrian had acknowledged he was supposed to impose the mandatory four-year sentence against Clinton, but that he would not send him to prison. "That is not just," Adrian said at the sentencing hearing, according to court transcripts. "I will not do that." ...
