In her first public statements, Rhonda Crawford, who is running for Cook County judge, said she never pronounced any judgments, never signed her name to court documents and never told anyone she was a judge.
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The law clerk accused of posing as a judge spoke publicly about the episode for the first time Thursday, saying a judge in the Markham courthouse urged her to don her judge’s robe and sit in her chair as part of her “shadowing” process as she ran for an open seat on the bench. “I was always under the direction of the judge”, Crawford said of Judge Valarie Turner during a news conference at her lawyer’s downtown office.
State prosecutors have said they’re investigating. It was on August 11, she said, that Judge Valarie E. Turner “encouraged” her to put on the judge’s robe and sit in her chair during a hearing on several traffic cases.
“It’s only accepted when she’s won the election, raised her hand, got sworn in, and then she can shadow a sitting judge, for educational purposes, to learn the ropes”, he says. Both she and Crawford could be subject to actions from disciplinary organizations. But a judge ruled Wednesday that Ahmad’s primary loss did not disqualify her from the race for the bench.
Her attorney, Victor Henderson, answered questions on her behalf. “I regret the day it happened”, she said.
Election board spokesman James Allen says the election ballot has a space for voters to write in a name in a contest between Ahmad and Crawford. He claimed Crawford’s actions were only a minor infraction, but gave little detail on the matter.
One Chicago-based attorney, Alan Tuerkheimer, said one possible charge under IL law would be that of impersonating an elected official, which is a misdemeanor.
Crawford is running for a seat on the 1st Judicial Subcircuit and running against write-in candidate, Judge Maryam Ahmad.
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Henderson said the “Democratic machine” is working behind closed doors to change the outcome of the election.
