Judge Grants Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Request for Special Prosecutor

Posted 8/14/17

Press release issued by Ogle County State's Attorney Eric Morrow

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Judge Grants Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Request for Special Prosecutor

Posted

OREGON — The following is a press release issued by Ogle County State’s Attorney Eric Morrow on Tuesday afternoon:

During a pretrial conference Tues., Aug. 15, Associate Circuit Judge John C. Redington granted Ogle County State’s Attorney Eric Morrow’s request and entered an order appointing the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office as special prosecutor in the case of People v. Marc W. Mongan.

In December 2016, the Ogle County Grand Jury found that there was no probable cause

to proceed with the felony charges of Felony Operating a Watercraft Under the Influence of Alcohol and Aggravated Reckless Operation of a Watercraft against Marc W. Mongan in relation to a June 24, 2016 boat crash which resulted in the death of Megan Wells, 31, of Rockford. Mr. Mongan had previously been arrested and charged with misdemeanor offenses related to the crash. Without a finding of probable cause the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office was legally unable to pursue felony charges against Mr. Mongan. The misdemeanor charges were subsequently set for trial on August 21, 2017.

During the course of preparation for the upcoming trial, the Ogle County State’s

Attorney’s office became aware of possible additional evidence related to the events of June 24, 2016. Since the State’s Attorney’s office did not have possession of this information at the time, it was not previously presented to the Ogle County Grand Jury As a result of this discovery, State’s Attorney Morrow asked the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office to review this new information and assume the prosecution of the Defendant in this case.

In explaining the request for a special prosecutor Morrow stated, “It is imperative that in all prosecutions the victim, the defendant and the public have confidence in the proceedings. Despite assurances from my office and the Court’s previous ruling which found that a special prosecutor was not necessary in this matter, the family of Megan Wells continues to believe that my office has a conflict of interest in the prosecution of Mr. Mongan. We have denied the existence of any conflict and, in fact, the Court has previously found that no conflict exists. With the discovery of this new evidence, however, it is appropriate that a special prosecutor be appointed to guarantee that there is no doubt by the family of Megan Wells or the public in general that justice is being served in this case. It is not unusual, in a situation such as this, for a special prosecutor to be appointed to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”

This matter is set for a status hearing on September 6, 2017 at 2:00 p.m.