Will County's Judges Pick Ewanic Over Their 2 Finalists

JOLIET, IL - In recent weeks, one of the biggest stories inside the Will County Courthouse concerned filling the vacancy of retiring Associate Judge Robert Brumund. Earlier this month, Will County's 16 elected judges came up with two finalists from a list of 49 lawyers who applied. Their finalists were Joliet attorney Michael R. Lucas and Assistant Will County State's Attorney Jeffrey Tuminello. From there, the Illinois Supreme Court mailed out secret ballots to Will County's elected circuit court judges. The 16 judges could vote for Lucas, Tuminello or put in a write-in candidate.

This week, the winner was announced. It wasn't Lucas, and it wasn't Tuminello.

Michael R. Lucas

Instead, the majority of Will County's elected judges voted for Derek Ewanic. As a result, Ewanic won the election by way of a write-in petition.

As of Wednesday night, there was no public announcement on the website for the Office of Will County's Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt about Ewanic's write-in victory.

However, Joliet Patch discovered a short press release tucked away on the Illinois Supreme Court website. The press release was dated Tuesday, Jan. 23. "Marcia M. Meis, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, announced today that the Twelfth Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Derek W. Ewanic as an associate judge of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit."

The press release notes Ewanic:

• Got his bachelor's in 1998 from Lewis University in Romeoville

• His Juris Doctor in 2003 from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago

"Mr. Ewanic is currently affiliated with the Will County State's Attorney's Office in Joliet, Illinois," the press release notes.

This week, Ewanic was one of the lead prosecutors handling the double murder trial against William "Billy" Krasawski, the man from Bourbonnais accused of using a pipe wrench and hammer in 2016 to murder Mike Oram, 48, and his girlfriend Jamie Wills, 43, inside Oram's family's auto body shop on Joliet's Cass Street. The jury trial ended unexpectedly in a mistrial and will be rescheduled for a new trial date on Monday. Besides Ewanic, the prosecution table included Mike Fitzgerald and Tuminello, the finalist on the ballot for Associate Judge.

Tuminello

Sources told Patch that Ewanic finished third amongst the 49 candidates who applied for associate judge. Ewanic has been in the running for a position on Will County's bench several times over the years. Last January, Ewanic and fellow Assistant State's Attorney Fred Harvey were named as the two finalists to replace Associate Judge Rick Mason, The Herald-News reported at the time.

That position went to Harvey.

Back in November 2008, Ewanic ran as a Republican for an elected opening on Will County's bench, but lost to Paula Gomora, according to vote totals reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Image via Joliet Patch