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1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) SS:
2 COUNTYOFCOOK)
3
4 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS
COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CRIMINAL DIVISION
5 THE PEOPLE OF THE
6 STATE OF ILLINOIS
7 vs Case No . 08 CR 10502
8 ANNABEL MELONGO
9
10 REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS had at the bearing in the above-entitled cause, before the Honorable Mary Margaret
11 Brosnahan , Judge of said court, on the 3rd day of March , A.D . 2010 .
12
13 APPEARANCES:
14 HONORABLE ANITA M. ALVAREZ STATE'S ATTORNEY OF COOK COUNTY
15 BY: MS . JULIE GUNNIGLE MR . ROBERT PODLASEK
16 MR . KYLE FRENCH Assistant State's Attorneys
17 Appeared on behalf of the People
18
19
20
MS . ANNABEL MELONGO Appeared pro se
21 Susan M . Sychta , CSR , CP , CM O£ficia~ Court R~rter
22 Circuit Court of Cook County Crimdna~ Division
23
24
1
1 THE COURT: Good morning, ma'am . Good morning,
2 counsels.
3
4
MS . MELONGO : Annabel Melonge pro se.
THE COURT: All right . Miss Melonge is representing
5 herself pro se.
6 State , can I have your name for the
7 record, please?
8 MS. GUNNIGLE: For the record, Judge, Julie
9 Gunnigle, G-U-N-N-I-G-L-E.
10
11
MR. PODLASEK : Robert Podlasek.
MR . FRENCH : State's attorney Kyle French,
12 F-R-E-N-C-H .
13 THE COURT : All right . This matter was held over
14 for argument on the defendant's motion for discovery,
15 motion to dismiss the indictment. I have also been in
16 receipt of numerous returns from the defense subpoenas .
17 So I would first say that I got a call
18 yesterday from someone named Jasmine at Blue Cross
19 directly to my phone line in the back -- so I don't know
20 how that person would access that number indicating
21 that they got a subpoena served on them, the word used to
22 me was "yesterday "
23 So that would have been -- the
24 conversation was on the 2nd, so they got a subpoena
2
1 served on them March 1st indicating that it was to be
2 complied with by the 3rd. And they indicated they could
3 not comply with it, that they needed additional days.
4 So obviously, ~ss Melongo, if you're
5 serving subpoenas, who in the world could comply in two
6 days? So do not do that. Today is the 3rd. Who could
7 comply with a subpoena to a big company and you think
8 that they're going to be here in person in two days or
9 get all the documents together? That's unreasonable . So
10 don't do that.
11 They indicated, as I said, they needed
12 seven days. I asked what, was there a date, what type of
13 information in terms of like t~e frame, and the person
14 indicated that there was no t~e frame specified in the
15 subpoena.
16 So I indicated if they wanted to come to
17 court to object based on the overly broad subpoena, they
18 could. I don't see anybody here from Blue Cross . But in
19 any event, that subpoena, they said seven days.
20
21
MS. Melongo: Can I ask you something, Judge?
THE COURT: No, no.
22 Next there is subpoena return from Comcast
23 indicating that they have no information that you're
24 looking for.
3
1 There is a subpoena return from the Miami
2 Dade County pub1ic schools indicating that they do not
3 have the information that you're looking for. And again,
4 I'm looking at the subpoenas that they're attaching, and
5 you have no t~e frame on this.
6 MS. MELONGO : There is a t~e frame that say the
7 court date.
8 THE COURT: Well, no. The court date is listed
9 here, but it's an 08 case, so you're not specifying for
10 these folks what date are you looking for, from what
11 period to what period, in other words '04 to '06, 2004 to
12 '08.
MS. MELONGO: Okay . 13
14 THE COURT: So not everything is necessarily
15 relevant . But in any event, their response was they
16 don't have that.
17 ~ere is another subpoena from Comcast
18 which was overnight de1ivery. They're indicating that
19 they have a response to you sent by their legal response
20 team indicating they're not going to comply, and they
21 tel1 you why in this 1etter and what you need go through
22 there.
23 There has been a subpoena returned from
24 North Community -- I'm sorry, North Montgomery Community
4
1 School Corporation. That's actually just -- I'm sorry.
2 That's just a subpoena that's been filed. That's not a
3 return. Hold on .
4
5
MS . MELONGO: All of those are filed .
THE COURT: It appears -- are these copies of
6 subpoenas that you filed with the court?
7
8
MS. MELONGO: Yes, uh-huh .
THE COURT: So I've got copies of one, two , three,
9 four, five, six, seven, eight , nine, ten. All right. A
10 copy of 40 subpoenas that have been so far filed with the
11 court. Let me go back to the returns of those subpoenas .
12 We have a subpoena returned from TCF Bank ,
13 attaching some documents that you apparently were
14 requesting.
15 I have a subpoena return from somebody
16 named M1ke Winstead indicating that he got a letter from
17 your office and that he is, there is a documentation of
18 what occurred.
19 And I think we talked about this before .
20 ~ss Melongo. You can't compel people to give a
21 statement . You can subpoena documents, letters, et
22 cetera , but apparently in same of the subpoenas I've gone
23 through, you're telling them to provide an account of
24 what occur~ed.
5
1 I think we had this conversation on the
2 last court date. You can't compel people to give witness
3 statements to you and have it appear that if they do not
4 give you the witness statement, they have to come to
5 court . You can subpoena records that are relevant to the
6 particular case. So I thought we had this conversation
7 on the last court date.
8
9
MS. MELONGO: Judge, for the record, I never asked
for Mike to make a statement. I indicate I need
10 documents. There is nothing in there that said he have
11 to submit a statement. He decide to make a statement.
12 never asked him for a statement.
13 THE COURT: I got a return of a subpoena from the
14 Chicago Board of Education indicating that they've
15 enclosed documents. There is a packet of documents from
16 the Chicago Board of Education .
17 I got a subpoena return from the firm of
18 Odelson and Stirk indicating that they are returning
19 documents responsive to the subpoena, and they're
I
20 requesting an in camera inspection based on the fact that
21 they are attorney records.
22 So I have not at this juncture conducted
23 that in camera inspection, but I will conduct an in
24 camera inspection of those documents before any of them
6
1 qet turned over.
2 There is a subpoena return here from
3 Wachovia Bank . There appears to be some wire transfer
4 information that I'll turn over. This is just the
5 envelope from the bank and the Board of Education.
6
7 have thus far.
All right. These are the documents that I
I would also state on the record that at
8 some point since the last court date, I did qet a call
9 directly into my chambers again. I don't know how it
10 came back directly to me . Perhaps it was transferred
11 back there by ~ss Melongo, although she didn't identify
12 herself, I obviously recognized her voice. And she asked
13 for the courtroom number and the address of the building
14 along with the zip code of the building . That I don't
15 understand since she is here every month. I did provide
16 the zip code infor.mation and the fact that we're in
17 courtroom 303.
18 I assume on the subpoenas, and I've
19 checked, that she attaching her own phone number and
20 address information so the people on the subpoena can
21 contact her directly, because I, other than if somebody
22 calls to say the subpoena is being complied with on a
23 certain date, I'm not getting into any conversations
24 about subpoenas or their contents, at cetera. That's not
7
1 my function. It's qot to be subpoenaed for a court date.
2 But correspondence can be directed toward
3 me, but I don't want any phone calls from you ever,
4 period, on this case, just like I don ' t want any from the
5 state. I'm not having ex-parte communications.
6 MS. MELONGO: Judge, for the record, I never aksed
7 anyone to call you. Actually, the lady from
8 Blue Cross-Blue Shield, I don't know how she got your
9
10
11
12
13
number . She called me and she aksed for an extension. I
give her an extension. I don't know why she needed to
call you. I never aksed anyone to.
THE COURT: I'm just spreading that of record.
State, do you have anything with respect
14 to any subpoena returns? There are so many of them, I
15 don't know if any of them got misdirected or directed to
16 you.
17 MS. GUNNIGLE: Judge, on the 22nd we filed a motion
18 to quash the subpoenas that we were aware of. At that
19 point in time was a subpoena to ~ss Spazarri, the
20 Illinois Department of Public Health, Douglas Brown, the
21 former Palatine mayor, Rita Mullins.
22 We have also been contacted by four other
23 persons. We ask for, in our motion to quash, a blanket
24 order that ~ss Melongo produce some sort of evidence
8
1 that the witness is relevant other than a fishing
2 expedition, because your Honor, these subpoenas are
3 extremely broad.
4 THE COURT: All right. Let me see. I am in receipt
5 of something filed February 22nd. That was obviously
6 since the last court date. February 9th was the last
7 court date, so we held it over till today's court date .
8 So this is a motion to quash the subpoena .
9 You're in receipt of the motion to quash the subpoena?
10 MS . MELONGO: Yes. And if you can give me that two
11 weeks to respond, I was busy preparing for the argument,
12 and I'm also filing a motion to reconsider with the feds .
13 THE COURT: She said she has been preparing a motion
14 to reconsider with the feds, so she is extremely busy.
15 All right. ~ss Melongo, here is my take
16 on the case and here's what I'm going to do, because I
17 want to make sure that you basically are competent to
18 proceed to represent yourself .
19 I wasn't present for the other hearings in
20 front of whatever judge it was where you decided to go
21
22
pro se and that was allowed. I don't know if things have
changed since then . I don't have those transcripts. I
23 wasn't there for any of those hearings .
24 Obviously, representing yourself is a
9
1 right you are afforded under our law if certain things
2 are met . Obviously, this is a felony case so it ' s
3 significant .
4 And I don't know anything about your
5 background . I'll just ask the state, if there is a
6 conviction of, based on what she is charged with , is this
7 a case where you're seeking penitentiary t~e?
8
9
10
MS . GUNNIGLE : No .
THE COURT : So it still doesn't mean it's not
important. It's still a felony conviction . You're a
11 citizen . To walk around with a felony conviction is a
12 significant burden, even though the state is indicating
13 they ' re not seeking penitentiary t~e if you're
14 convicted.
15 So I am not convinced that you are capable
16 of representing yourself. So what I'm going to do is
17 this.
18
19
MS . MELONGO: Judge--
THE COURT : I know that you believe that , and that
20 may be the case
21 MS . MELONGO: Judge, I don't want a representation .
22 I want to represent myself.
23
24
THE COURT: I understand that . I'm not confused
about that being what you want at all . I understand
10
1 that's what you want. And if you're able to represent
2 yourself, that's a right that you have that I would not
3 take away.
4 But in order for me to be comfortable, I'm
5 going to request a BCX. So I am going to have you
6 evaluated by the 10th floor with the issue being are you
7 fit to represent yourself .
8 Once that report comes back, if they say
9 yes, we'll proceed forwardi and if not, we'll go from
10 there. But r want that on the record before we go any
11 further in this case. Just I don't want it to spiral out
12 of control without me knowing from the 10th floor that
13 you're fit to represent yourself. That takes about
14 30 days .
15 So what I'll do is this. We'll hold it
16 over for about a 30-day date for return of the Bex .
17 You'll get a copy of the order today. You'll have to
18 make arrangements with the 10th floor for the evaluation.
19 It should be delivered back to my courtroom in 30 days .
20 You can prepare for your response to the
21 motion to quash subpoenas, so 30 days from now if it
22 comes back fit for trial, you can file your response and
23 we'll argue.
24 MS . MELONGO: And what about the motion to dismiss
11
1 that I am supposed to argue today?
2 THE COURT : I am not going to do that until I have a
3 report from the 10th floor, so I'm holding that over .
4 50 today is March 3rd . The 30-day date
5 would fallon a date when I'm out , so the date of April
6 12th we'll pick -- how about April 14th? That's a
7 Wednesday.
8
9
MS . MELONGO: Judge, what if I ignore your --
because I'm not sure, I know I can defend myself.
10 been in this for three years.
11
12
THE COURT: Well, not by yourself you haven't.
MS . Melongo: Yes . I am in this three years
13 representing myself and
14 THE COURT : Let me stop you .
I have
15 Are you telling me so for three full years
16 you have not had any lawyer on the case?
17 MS . Melongo: I had lawyer in this case , but they
18 did nothing . You can go and find , none of those lawyers
19 file a motion. I ' m able to represent myself .
20 THE COURT: And that might be the case. That might
21 be the case. But I'm just telling you I ' m sending you to
22
23
the tenth floor for that opinion. I'm not requiring you
to get a lawyer . I ' m not badgering you into getting a
24 lawyer .
12
1
2
But I'm not going to proceed with this
case until I have an opinion with the 10th floor. If
3 they tell me you're fit to represent yourself, we'll go
4 forward with you representing yourself.
5 Can I have a return on this? Does the
6 date of April 14 work for you? It's week longer than a
7 month.
MS. MELONGO: Okay . 8
9 THE COURT: Okay? So I'll note that the state files
10 motion to quash subpoenas. That's going to be -- I'm
11 going to hold that over for a ruling. So between now and
12 the next court date, I'm directing that you not file any
13 additional subpoenas with anybody until we get the return
14 of the BCX.
15 And the state has a motion to quash, which
16 is on file, so you have who they're objecting, what
17 they're objecting to. So I'm not ruling on that today.
18 But my point is I'm not ruling on that today, so I don't
19 want any action on it from your end either until the sex
20 is returned.
21 MS. MELONGO: Judge, I have to file a motion to
22 reconsider with the fads.
23 THE COURT: Well, that's between you and the feds.
24 That's not part of what's my jurisdiction.
13
1
2
MS. MELONGO: Okay .
MR. PODLASEK: Judge, I I va prepared an order.
3 THE COURT: We'll hold it over till 4/14/10 for
4 return of BCX. And as long as it comes back fit, we'll
5 hold it over for poss1hle argument on the motion to quash
6 subpoenas and the motion to dismiss the indictment. And
7 we'll also hold it over for the in camera inspection for
8 the documents which I'll go through .
9 Okay, m.a' am . I'm going to give you a copy
10 of this order so you can take this to the 10th floor on
11 the other side of the building and make an appointment
12 that works with your schedule and theirs.
13 MS . MELONGO: What if I don't go through this and
14 get a lawyer? I don't want this, because it may bloody
15 the waters. There is something suspicious in this.
16 THE COURT: A lawyer is not going to change that,
17 because I have a bona fide doubt at this point as to
18 whether you're fit. So I want a tenth f100r examination.
19 50 you have to be fit whether you have a 1awyer or not .
20 MS. MELONGO: Okay. So I can go over this and hire
21 a 1awyer and then
22
23
THE COURT: You can do what?
MS. MELONGO: I can bypass this one and hire a
24 1awyer?
14
1 THE COURT : You're not hearing me . And that ' s the
2 problem I'm baving with you over the past couple of court
3
4
dates . I say something that I think is very clear and
you don ' t seem to be processing it . So that ' s my
5 concern.
6 I said to you that I need to know whether
7 you're fit with a lawyer or with not .
8
9
MS. MELONGO: Okay.
THE COURT : If you hire an attorney , it ' s not going
10 to change this evaluation order that I ' ve just entered .
11 I'm not trying to force you into hiring an attorney
12 against your will . I just want to make sure that you are
13 fit to represent yourself .
14 So coming in here with a lawyer is not
15 going to change the order that I just made .
MS. MELONGO: Okay . 16
17 THE COURT: Okay? So that's the copy . You go to
18 the 10th floor and make the arrangements. And I should
19 have a report on 4/14, all right? And then we ' ll be
20 prepared .
21 Assuming that everything is fine and you
22 come back fit, we ' ll proceed with you representing
23 yourself and I'll hear possible argument on the motion to
24 quash the subpoena that they filed. You wanted to
15
1 respond to that. And I'm also going to hold it over for
2 an argument on the motion to dismiss indictment and for
3 the ruling on my in camera inspection of those records .
4 MS. MELONGO : Judge, you still have a motion to
5 compel or to dismiss.
THE COURT : Right . 6
7 MS . HELONGO: And then you also had an in camera
8 view with Sheila Papareese. And I don't know , you have
9 not talked about it . You have to review some document
10 that she
11 THE COURT : I'll do my in camera rulings on the next
12 court date .
13 There one thing I wanted to correct with
14 respect to the Schiller Park incident. During the
15 conversation with that subpoena, I quashed some of that
16 subpoena as overly broad , et cetera , and told you the
17 state had provided you with reports . And you subpoenaed
18 the Village manager and that ' s not the proper person to
19 do that subpoena .
20 If you want to subpoena your own police
21 reports , you can, but that goes to the police department .
22 You're not stuck with whatever the state gives you . You
23 have to subpoena them through the police department , not
24 the Village .
16
1 MS. MELONGO: Well, Judge, I never subpoena the
2 police manager, I never.
3 THE COURT: I understand that. I'm telling you, I'm
4 correcting my ruling on that point .
MS . MELONGO: Oh, okay. 5
6 THE COURT: I'm telling you if you want to get your
7 own set of the police records and subpoena the police
8 department, you can do that, but not the Village manager
9 for everything else you subpoenaed .
1 0 But you're not stuck with the set of
11 reports they gave you. If you want to subpoena your own ,
12 you can.
MS . MELONGO : So I have to re-issue? 13
14 THE COURT: You don ' t have to do anything.
15 not understanding me .
You're
16 Last time we had a long discussion with
17 the Village attorney present in court . And that was
18 Schiller Park, am I correct?
19
20
21
22
MR. PODLASEK : Yes , your Honor .
MR. FRENCH: Yes, your Honor .
THE COURT : There ' s 40 subpoenas , so I want to be
clear . I've corrected a part of my ruling .
23 So during that ruli~g , I basically quashed
24 the majority of that subpoena, everything you were
17
1 looking for . And I told you that the state had already
2 provided you with police reports .
3 You were indicating you were in
4 disagreement with the state . You basically said what
5 they said wasn't true, you never got them, whatever .
6 I passed it, it got tendered, you signed
7 receipts, et cetera, and which I indicated should be with
8 every piece of paper that's tendered, I want a receipt .
9 I don't want to deal with you got the paper, you didn't
10 get the paper.
11 But what I said was they gave you all the
12 reports so do not subpoena Schiller, the Village . And
13 it ' s true, don ' t subpoena the Village.
14 But what I'm saying is, if you want to do
15 your own subpoena for police reports on this incident,
16 you can. You don't have to rely on what they gave you.
17 You have the power to do that if you want to . You don ' t
18 have to, but you have that option.
19 MS . MELONGO: Just for the record, there is a lady
20 in this case that is associated with my case and her name
21 is Andrea Smi th, and Schiller Park police also made an
22 investigation on her. And I want that information too .
23
24
THE COURT: Well, did you issue a subpoena for that?
MS. MELONGO: Yes. Everything was in the subpoena.
18
1
2
THE COURT: Well, I ' ll have to see if that's part of
the in camera inspection . I don't know . So I'll let you
3 know on the next court date if that ' s there . Otherwise ,
4 they can come in and object .
5 Was Miss Smith charged in this case?
6
7
MS. GUNNIGLE : No .
THE COURT: Was she investigated personally for this
8 case?
9 MS . GUNNIGLE: She was investigated at the same time
10 Miss Melange was investigated for the same use of that
11 card . So when you look at the police reports , both the
12 computer intrusion case and the credit card case , that
13 information is intertwined .
14
15
MS. MELONGO : Your Honor , that's not true .
THE COURT : Stop it. I'm not hearing anything more
16 until I qet the fitness report. We ' ll go from there .
17 So I'll see everybody back here on
18 April 14th.
19
20
MS. MELONGO : And what about the motion to compel?
THE COURT : That's sti11 there . If you're fit, we
21 wi11 be going for months and months on these motions , I
22 imagine . So we're not going to forget anything. You
23 might not get them done in one day, but the motion to
24 compe1 is on fi1e . So I ' m going to turn these documents
19
1 over
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7
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r 13
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to you.
MS. MELONGO : Thank you very much .
THE COURT: 4/14.
MR . FRENCH:
MS . GUNNIGLE:
Thank you , Judge .
Thank you, Judge.
(WHEREUPON, the hearing in the
above-entitled cause was continued to
April 14, 2010 . )
* •• *
20
1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) SS :
2 COUNTY OF COO K )
3
4 I, Susan M. Sycbta, do hereby certify that I
5 am a Certified Shorthand Reporter doing business in the
6 City of Chicago ; that I reported in shorthand the
7 proceedings at the hearing in the above-entitled cause ;
8 that I further reduced said shorthand to typewriting , and
9 that this transcript is a true and accurate record of my
10 shorthand notes so taken at said hearing before Judge
11 Mary Margaret Brosnahan , Judge of said court, on the 3rd
12 day of March, A.D . 2010 , and contains all of the evidence
/ 13 had and testimony taken on said date .
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 Certified Shorthand Reporter
21 CSR License No . 084-001178
22
23
24
21
