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Commission recommends suspension of law license for former Kendall County assistant state’s attorney · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Commission recommends suspension of law license for former Kendall County
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  Assistant State's Attorney. Written by Eric Shelkoff, This article is
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  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission has recommended that
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  former Kendall County First Assistant State's Attorney Mark Schlifka have
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  his law license suspended for three years starting in February.
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  The suspension comes amid allegations he had been involved in
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  an improper romantic relationship with a woman he was representing.
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  The recommendation is to have his license suspended for three years,
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  starting February fifth and ending February fourth, twenty twenty nine.
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  The termination date is subject to modification by the Supreme Court.
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  He would not be able to practice law while his
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  license is suspended. While serving as a First Assistant State's Attorney,
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  he engaged in a conflict of interest by having a
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  sexual relationship with a woman who was the victim in
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  a domestic violence case that he was prosecuting for the
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  state and who was the defendant in a criminal case
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  handled by a prosecutor whom mister Schlifka supervised. The Aritstate
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  states on its website he also engaged in criminal conduct,
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  namely unlawful video recording by taking nude photographs of that
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  same woman while she was asleep and unable to consent.
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  The Hearing Board of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary
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  Commission had recommended the suspension. Schlifker resigned in April twenty
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  twenty three amid allegations that between March twenty twenty two
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  in March twenty twenty three, he had been involved in
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  an improper romantic relationship with a woman who had been
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  the complaining witness and victim in two domestic battery cases
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  and recently the defendant in a dui case. Shlifka apologized
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  to his colleagues in an email the day he resigned.
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  Records show I apologize to each and every one of
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  you for letting you the office and all that we
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  stand for down, Schlifka wrote in an email obtained in
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  response to an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request. In
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  December twenty twenty four, an appellate court upheld a judge's
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  decision to dismiss Kendall County State's attorney Eric Weiss from
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  a lawsuit filed against Shlifka by the woman. The cases
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  were being prosecuted by the Kendall County State's Attorney's Office,
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  and Shlifka was aware of the woman's involvement in them,
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  according to a lawsuit she filed against Shlifka and Weiss.
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  In the opinion, an appellate court upheld de Kelb County
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  Chief Judge Bradley Waller's previous ruling to dismiss Weiss from
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  the lawsuit that alleged he knew Shlifka had been involved
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  in an improper physical relationship with the woman. The facts,
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  as alleged in the plaintiff's amended complaint demonstrate most that
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  Vice should have known that there was an inappropriate relationship
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  between Shlifka and the plaintiff. According to the opinion, this
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  does not amount to an allegation of knowledge that gender
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  related violence was occurring or was even foreseeable, nor does
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  it constitute a factual allegation that Vice as acted in
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  any way to encourage or assist such violence. The American
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  Bar Association has rules prohibiting a prosecutor from engaging in
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  any inappropriate personal relationship with any victim or other witness
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  in an amended lawsuit before Waller. The woman claimed that
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  Weiss saw her and Shlifka together on at least two
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  occasions and knew the plaintiff by sight in this small
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  community to be a defendant in a criminal case pending
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  in Kendall County. Defendant Weiss remained silent, and his silence
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  should be viewed as approval and acceptance of Shlifka's inappropriate
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  relationship with the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit, The appellate
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  court and its ruling said there was nothing about the
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  interactions allegedly observed by Weiss that should have put him
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  on notice that Shlifka had sexually assaulted the plaintiff, Nor
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  were there any allegations that acts of violence or other
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  misconduct occurred where Weiss could have observed or learned of them.
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  According to the ruling, without more, the mere allegation that
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  a state's attorney uproviser observed his assistant state's attorney employee
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  in public twice with a female criminal defendant who was
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  also a complaining witness in another matter is insufficient to
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  establish that an act of sexual assault or battery by
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  that prosecutor was foresee The next hearing on the case
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  is set for ten am March nineteenth in front of
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  Waller