Former Prosecutor Gets Law License Suspended After Assaulting a Process Server

• March 31, 2013
• by Kimberly Faber

Image credit: The Southern Illinoisan

On April 5th, the law license of a former Illinois top prosecutor will be suspended for four months as a result of an assault on a process server. 

The assault occurred five years ago in March of 2008. James was serving as state's attorney at the time. According to reports, James was being served a summons for a lawsuit when he committed aggravated assault on the process server and allegedly displayed a handgun, a .380 caliber, during the confrontation. No further details of the assault have been found in our search. 

In 2011, James was convicted of aggravated assault in a stipulated bench trial and was ordered by the judge to pay a fine of $1,500, surrender his handgun, and submit to one year of supervision. The conviction initiated a disciplinary hearing by the Illinois Supreme Court, during which a motion was made in March of this year by Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission to approve and confirm a recommendation from the commission's review board to suspend his license for four months. The Illinois Supreme Court determined that his license should be suspended for a four-month period beginning on April 5th of this year, and it is stated that James must reimburse the Client Protection Program Trust Fund for any client protection payments that come up as a result of his conduct during the period of suspension.  

Comments on various articles about the suspension have shown that most people aren't pleased with the outcome. One commenter shared, "Yeah and if it was anyone else he would have been sent straight to jail." Another quipped, "He needs to be in prison, not [getting] a slap on the wrist." While one process server noted that, "Process servers are still viewed as second-class citizens in this country," another raised the question, "I wonder how much jail time the average person would get if they assaulted an attorney?"

In the fall of 2011, Illinois signed State Bill 2004 into law that elevated assault on process servers to aggravated assault and battery. 

Promoting Assault Awareness and Protective Regulations for Servers (PAAPRS)

In an effort to support state associations as they work toward stronger assault protection and to grow national awareness of this important issue, ServeNow teamed up with a number of organizations to create the PAAPRS campaign. PAAPRS is Promoting Assault Awareness and Protective Regulations for Servers through educational material, standing as a resource for process servers to share their assault experiences, and by raising public awareness through the PAAPRS Assault Map and the Petition to Make Assault on a Process Server a Felony in All States, which has collected over 1,000 supporting signatures. For more information and to find out how you can help, visit www.serve-now.com/paaprs.