Whiteside County tries first criminal jury trial in 6 months

On August 17, after a four-day jury trial, a Whiteside County jury returned a not guilty verdict on a charge of aggravated battery to a peace officer in a Whiteside County criminal case, People of the State of Illinois vs. Michael Cover. The jury found Cover guilty of a lesser, criminal misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer. He was represented during the trial by Sterling attorney James Mertes.

This case led to months of hearings and three successive court rulings that determined that Whiteside County jury panels had not been properly compiled and many potential jurors in different demographics were left out. Mertes spoke with Our Quad Cities News via Zoom to talk about the first criminal jury trial held in the county in months.

“This was the very first criminal jury trial in Whiteside County after a more than six-month suspension of jury trials as a result of the challenges that we have made regarding the composition of our jury veneers,” Mertes said. “Three different court rulings from two different judges have discharged jury panels after finding that the jury veneers were not properly comprised.”

“A jury should be a fair cross section of our community. The jury veneer should look like us. It should have age ranges that are consistent with those of our community, it should have races and ethnicities that are consistent with the composition of our community. We can be better assured that we'll have fair jury verdicts.”

Legal rulings over the past six months have discharged multiple juries. “In Whiteside County, starting in February of 2026, it was determined that our juries were not fairly constituted, that they did not reflect the composition of our communities so, two different judges in three separate rulings discharged our juries. The result of that is that we've gone more than six months with no criminal jury trials in Whiteside County.”

“I'm happy to report to you that last week, we conducted our very first criminal jury trial in Whiteside County since this whole saga began. I looked around the courtroom and saw a jury veneer that reflected the community. There were people on that jury veneer that would not have been on the veneer six months earlier. People above the age of 80, people below the age of 21, people of various ethnicities and races. It was wonderful to see. It was reflective of our community, and ultimately, we're gratified that the verdict was a not guilty verdict on a very serious criminal felony charge.”

Mertes said it’s not possible to determine if the revamped jury made a difference in the Cover case. “I can't say to you that that verdict was the result of the improved jury empanelment process. I can say to you, however, that the jury verdict was fair and the process by which the jury was assembled was fair. We can rest better assured that when our juries look like our communities, fair verdicts will be the result.”

He said defendants who were previously found guilty under the old jury rules are asking about getting their cases retried. “There's a case now pending that I'm involved in before the court, where a defendant who is convicted of first-degree murder has challenged that verdict on the basis that the jury that found him guilty was unfairly comprised.”

“Do I anticipate an onslaught of those types of petitions throughout the state of Illinois? Yes, I do. Every day, I receive inquiries from inmates all throughout the state of Illinois, asking that their cases be reviewed because of concerns that they had about the jury system. It is a certainty that those challenges will be filed. How the courts address those remains to be seen. There has not been a ruling yet on a petition for post-conviction relief stemming from these issues, but we do anticipate an onslaught of those petitions, and the courts are going to have their hands full dealing with them.”

Our Quad Cities News has reached out to Whiteside County State’s Attorney Colleen Buckwalter for a statement but has not received a response.

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