People v. Bickerstaff

Defendant, Charles Bickerstaff, appeals from his conviction of 11 counts of criminal sexual assault. On appeal, he argues that his conviction must be reversed because (1) the current Lee County State’s Attorney’s extrajudicial statements about the case deprived him of a fair trial, and (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion to appoint a special prosecutor in place of the State’s Attorney’s office. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Before his trial, defendant filed a motion for change of venue in October 2008 and a motion to disqualify the Lee…