Special prosecutor in Van Dyke case decides not to seek reelection in Kane County
Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor who won the conviction of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of Laquan McDonald, will not seek reelection as state’s attorney in Kane County.
McMahon announced his decision not to run for a third term in the post he has held since 2010 in a letter Tuesday, after announcing his plans to his staff. The letter does not state a reason for the decision.
McMahon, who was appointed state’s attorney when his predecessor, John Barsanti, was appointed judge, has since run unopposed in both the Republican primary and general elections in both 2012 and 2016. McMahon flirted with a run for attorney general in the 2018 GOP primary.
McMahon stepped up to take on the Van Dyke case in 2016, after former Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez recused herself from the case, and the state attorney general and every other elected state’s attorney in Illinois had turned down Judge Vincent Gaughan’s request for volunteers to serve as special prosecutor.
Van Dyke was the first Chicago police officer convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting since the 1960s, a historic case that McMahon’s letter includes near the bottom of a list of accomplishments that include increasing pay for line prosecutors and public defenders and establishing training for police officers on how to deal with civilians with mental health issues.
“I was appointed to handle a historical and landmark case against a Chicago police officer …” McMahon wrote. “My staff and I pursued that case with a single goal in mind — to find the truth, present the truth in court and pursue justice for the victims and our community. That case was a test of our justice system.”