Aug. 25--Des Plaines Ald. Dick Sayad appeared in court last week with a new attorney in an effort to persuade a judge to change a guilty verdict in his criminal trespassing case.
Judge Michael Hood won't make any decision on the matter until Sept. 24 at the earliest, said Sayad's attorney, Laura Morask.
Hood found the 4th ward alderman guilty in June of misdemeanor criminal trespass and sentenced him to 18 months of court supervision in addition to about $1,400 in fines. Sayad was charged in February after he entered a home in his ward without the resident's permission.
Morask, a Park Ridge-based criminal defense attorney and a three-term Maine Township trustee, said she filed three post-trial motions on behalf of her client in July. The first two ask for a new trial and a reconsideration of Sayad's sentence.
"His 18-month superivision seemed, in my legal opinion, to be a little excessive," Morask said.
She said the third motion asks the judge to set aside his original decision and enter a not guilty verdict based on either evidentiary error or legal analysis that was not previously argued during the trial. If Morask is successful with the third motion, she said the other two would be moot.
Sayad declined to comment on the case.
The alderman's attorney during the trial, James Tatooles, said he recommended Sayad not appeal the guilty verdict.
"I told him, from what I saw of the case, I didn't think it would be advantageous to do that because at the end of the supervision period, he would ,in effect, be not guilty and the case would be dismissed," Tatooles said.
Under Illinois law, if a person successfully complies with the terms of his court supervision, a criminal conviction can be avoided.
Tatooles said he believed the judge was fair in his ruling.
"For some reason it bothered (Sayad) that he was found guilty by the judge and I guess he decided he wanted to go further," he said.
Morask will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal to the state appellate court following the judge's decision on the post-trial motions.
Gaines is a freelance reporter.
