Dec. 22--Waukegan Mayor Wayne Motley has announced that former Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller -- one of the founding members of the city's Emergency Telephone System Board -- will not be reappointed to another term.
Both Waller and Motley said this week that the decision was unrelated to criticism Waller has faced in light of several disastrous prosecutions.
Waller's 22-year term as state's attorney was marred by revelations in the years before his retirement that his office had imprisoned innocent men despite evidence that suggested prosecutors botched the cases. The office's failures have had particularly heavy consequences for the city of Waukegan, whose troubled police department did the bulk of the investigative work that led to six wrongful convictions. A Tribune investigation in October found that the city and its insurers have paid more than $20 million to dispose of lawsuits over wrongful arrests.
Most of the wrongfully convicted men are black or Hispanic, and lawsuits filed against the city suggest a strained relationship between the largely white police department and Waukegan's residents, most of whom are black or Hispanic.
At an October board meeting, community activist Ralph Peterson Jr. said he felt Waller's position on the emergency communications board was an insult to the city's Latino and African-American communities.
At Monday night's City Council meeting, however, Motley described Waller as a "man of character, a man of conviction, a man of courage and a man of class."
"For him to be continued to be ridiculed is not something I want to see occur," Motley later explained. "It's in the best interests of [Waller] and of myself."
On Tuesday, Waller said he told Motley he wasn't looking for another term on the board, which oversees 911 infrastructure issues.
"I think we've set up a viable, effective system for the city of Waukegan. I'm proud to have been involved in that from the start. I just told [Motley] I think it's time for me to step down from the board and to appoint someone else," Waller said.
Waller said his usual response to the criticism is "consider the source."
"Anybody that would go to a Waukegan City Council meeting and listen to public comment period would shake their head and probably get up and leave if they had any good sense," he said.
But Waller added that he's "retired and tired of my critics" and said he's looking forward to being out of the public eye.
Motley said he will appoint Waller's replacement in January.
Last month, amid questions about the department's record of abuse allegations and wrongful convictions, city officials defended the department's officers and current leaders but said they did intend to make some changes.
