Samantha Harer Case: Judge Provides Clarity To State's Attorney

JOLIET, IL — Will County Judge John Anderson has rendered his decision concerning a number of documents sent to him last July by the State's Attorney Office of Jim Glasgow after the judge imposed a $15 million default judgment against ex-Crest Hill Police Officer Felipe "Phil" Flores in the February 2018 death of Samantha Harer.

"Regarding the motion to clarify," Judge Anderson ruled last week, "the court has already explained its reasons for impounding the submitted materials as well as its reasons for denying plaintiffs' request for access to the materials. Among those reasons was that the documents were unsolicited and sent by a non-party, the court did not know anything about the documents, and they were not considered or relevant to the issues before the court, and the court was not in a position to know whether their release would compromise a pending investigation or violate any privileges."

A copy of the judge's order and related court documents are at the bottom of this story.

Incidentally, next week marks the six-year anniversary since Harer, 23, died from a single gunshot wound to her head while she was naked in the bedroom of her Channahon apartment.

Flores, the off-duty policeman, called 911 from her apartment, claiming she just shot herself after locking herself behind the door to her bedroom. Prior to her death, Harer and Flores had a stormy dating relationship.

In last summer's $15 million judgment, Judge Anderson decided that "the evidence demonstrates that Felipe likely shot and killed Samantha. The Harers have adequately proven the elements of their claims for wrongful death and emotional distress against Samantha."

Even though the Will County State's Attorney's Office had no connection to the Harer family's wrongful death lawsuit against Flores, attorneys who answer to Glasgow began sending Judge Anderson various correspondence and documents that may have supported the belief that Harer had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In 2018, the Will County Coroner's Office of Patrick O'Neil concluded that Harer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and Flores was not charged with any crimes from the State's Attorney's Office. However, back in 2004, the Will County Coroner's Office determined that Bolingbrook police officer Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, died of an accidental drowning inside the bathtub of her home in Bolingbrook.

Years later, the cause of Savio's death was changed to a homicide after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, went missing and was never seen alive again.

"Regarding the plaintiffs' motion," Judge Anderson ruled last week, "the court has no basis to conclude that the State's Attorney failed to serve plaintiffs with the motion to clarify, nor that ex parte communications occurred relative to that motion. Nonetheless, the court observes that in all cases, parties are entitled to service of all motions and other filings. The court further observes that ex parte communications are generally improper."

Last summer, Joliet Patch covered the wrongful death lawsuit proceedings in Anderson's courtroom, while Joliet's print newspaper, The Herald-News, did not. On July 21, Patch broke the news of the $15 million judgment against Flores while Joliet's print newspaper did not publish a story about Flores that day.

Around July 24, Glasgow's lawyers sent several communications to Judge Anderson in regard to the investigation of Harer's death. By Aug. 15, a staff member for The Herald-News took a renewed interest in the Harer case, court files reflect. However, the Will County State's Attorney's Office denied the newspaper's Freedom of Information Act request seeking access to the communications prosecutors furnished the judge after July 1.

The newspaper appealed its FOIA request denial to the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

On Dec. 20, the Attorney General's Office of Kwame Raoul ruled in the newspaper's favor and determined "no language ... directed the State's Attorney's Office to keep the records confidential."

Because of the AG's ruling, Glasgow's lawyers filed another motion in January asking Judge Anderson for guidance. "As a result of the court order and Public Access Counselor decision, the State's Attorney's Office is caught between a rock and a hard place with these dueling obligations," Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Meyers wrote. "Therefore, the State's Attorney's Office respectfully requests the court clarify its July 27, 2023, and August 15, 2023, orders to indicate whether the State's Attorney's Office is able to release these documents to non-parties without committing a contemptuous act."

Meanwhile, New York-based attorney Jennifer Bonjean, who represents the parents of Samantha Harer, filed a separate four-page motion in late January asking the State's Attorney's Office serve her "with any and all motions/filings in this matter and stop engaging in ex parte communications with this court."

"Will County Prosecutor Glasgow and his team of prosecutors, including ASA Pyles, ASA Tatroe and ASA Meyers demonstrated total ignorance about how default judgment proceedings work," Bonjean wrote Judge Anderson.

"By failing to defend the case, Flores admitted that he was the person who shot and killed the decendent, and that Samantha Harer did not die by way of suicide. As this court knows, plaintiffs offered far more evidence in support of these material facts and did not rely on the admission," Bonjean's motion continued.

On Jan. 26, Bonjean reminded the Will County judge that the State's Attorney's Office "made serious allegations against undersigned counsel for alleged ethical violations which were later reported in news accounts, apparently because in its view undersigned counsel had a duty to present a defense for Flores during the prove-up hearing."

On August 7, Joliet Patch published an article headlined, "Samantha Harer Attorney's Ethical Conduct Questioned By Glasgow."

When Patch asked her about the role of Glasgow and his Will County State's Attorney Office in the Harer case, Bonjean remarked in July: "They fumbled the ball. They didn't even ask (Illinois State Police) to do the analysis of whether Flores' DNA was on the gun. No one asked Flores why there was a big dent in the wall where Samantha's head would have been.

"They remained willfully ignorant. They protected the badge, too. There is no other inference to draw. They are incompetent, but not that incompetent."

Bonjean relayed to the judge in her Jan. 26 filing that she more or less knows about the documents Glasgow's staff sent to Anderson because Glasgow and his staff went ahead and filed a complaint against her with the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission.

"Without getting into detail, the materials provided to this court generally consisted of a smattering of random police/investigative reports, some pleadings and materials from the federal litigation case some of which appear to have been provided to the WCSAO in violation of a federal protective order, completely irrelevant and highly inappropriate documents related to the deceased's father prepared seven years before Samantha Harer's death and testimony from the prove-up hearing," Bonjean wrote the court Jan. 26.

In last week's decision, Judge Anderson wrote, "Nothing in the August 15 ... order prohibited the State's Attorney from providing the subject documents to anyone else, whether through a FOIA request or any other means. Accordingly, the court narrowly states that the State's Attorney's release of the submitted documents would not represent a violation of the August 15, (2023) order. There may or may not be other bases as to why the State's Attorney should not release them ..."

Related Joliet Patch coverage from 2023:

'Glasgow Should Just Man Up And Stand By His Decision': Harer Lawyer

Phil Flores Must Pay $15 Million For Samantha Harer's Death: Judge

Samantha Harer Attorney's Ethical Conduct Questioned By Glasgow

Glasgow Won't Charge Ex-Cop Flores With Murder Of Samantha Harer