Judge Convicted of Selling Justice ‘Like Apples’

A Cook County judge, who federal prosecutors said “sold and peddled justice like it was apples,” was found guilty Saturday of 59 counts of racketeering, income tax evasion and mail fraud by a federal court jury.

Judge Richard F. LeFevour, 54, is the third and highest-ranking judge to be convicted in the federal government’s four-year undercover Operation Greylord investigation of corruption in Cook County’s court system.

The jury, which heard from 163 witnesses during the eight-week trial, deliberated for less than six hours, convicting LeFevour of every federal charge. He faces a maximum of 300 years in prison.

“It is the fastest verdict I have ever seen in a major case that lasted this long,” said former U.S. Atty. Dan K. Webb, who acted as a special prosecutor in the case.

Ashen-faced, LeFevour, a tall gray-haired man known for his sense of humor and strong ties to the Chicago Democratic political machine, rushed from the federal court building without commenting on his conviction.

Even for Chicago, a city with a long history of judicial and political corruption, LeFevour’s trial was remarkable.

Testimony from government witnesses exposed a system in which persons accused of drunk driving could buy they way out of court for $100, hustler lawyers could buy exclusive rights to work in high-volume courtrooms in which defendants would normally not need an attorney and parking tickets could be fixed with a simple cash payment in traffic court corridors.

Pocketed Money From Fines

Witnesses who had accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in parking tickets testified that they gave the judge automobiles, copying machines and large “loans” that have never been repaid. In exchange, they said, the judge gave them reduced fines that he pocketed instead of turning over to the City of Chicago Treasury.

During his last five years on the bench, LeFevour had at least $143,000 in income for which he could show no source, Internal Revenue Service agents testified.

From the day LeFevour was sworn in as a judge 18 years ago, “he embarked on a course of judicial corruption that is unequaled in the annals of corruption,” Webb told jurors in his closing arguments Friday. “The hallmark of his career was mastering methods and ways that he could make money as a corrupt judge,” added Webb, who was the U.S attorney for the northern district of Illinois during most of the Greylord investigation.

Did Not Take Stand

LeFevour, who did not take the stand in his own defense, contended that he was chronically in debt and thus could not have been accepting bribes and that much of his unexplained income was, in fact, gambling winnings and receipts from the sale of paintings done by his wife.

Among the prosecution witnesses were three former Chicago policemen, one of them LeFevour’s own cousin and boyhood friend, who testified that they accepted cash bribes for the judge and delivered the money to him in his courthouse office. Lawyers who paid the judge also testified as government witnesses.

Two other judges convicted in Greylord prosecutions have been sentenced to 10 and 15 years in prison. Another 15 persons indicted after the investigation, including several lawyers and police officers, have pleaded or been found guilty. Three persons, including one judge, have been acquitted, although the judge was later temporarily suspended from the bench.