Former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew is expected in court Monday morning after being indicted for involuntary manslaughter in the 2004 death of a northwest suburban man in a drunken fight on the city’s Near North Side.
Richard J. Vanecko is scheduled to appear in the presiding judge’s room at the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th Street and California Avenue at 9:30 a.m., immediately following the normal judge-assignment call.
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin, who earlier this year appointed special prosecutor Dan Webb to investigate the death of David Koschman, will take over the bench to oversee Vanecko’s judge assignment, which will be determined by a “randomizer” machine that will arbitrarily assign the case to one of the courthouse’s 32 felony courtrooms.
Vanecko will then appear before the designated judge upstairs, where he is expected to enter a plea of not guilty and be released on a pre-negotiated bond of $100,000.
Typically, dozens of judge assignments are done by the “randomizer” machine before court begins. But in Vanecko’s case, Toomin will have the device with him on the bench to avoid any allegations of unfairness, according to courthouse sources.
Both sides have the option to ask for a different judge if there are conflicts of interest, something that could arise since Vanecko is such a high-profile defendant and there have been allegations of police and prosecutorial misconduct surrounding the case.
Vanecko, who currently resides in Costa Mesa, Calif., turned himself in to authorities in Chicago on Friday afternoon and later posed for a mug shot in a jacket and tie.
Last week, a special grand jury found that Vanecko, who is the son of former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s sister, Mary, “recklessly performed acts which were likely to cause great bodily harm to another.”
Koschman, 21, of Mount Prospect, had been drinking in the Rush Street nightlife district early on April 24, 2004, when he and his friends quarreled with a group that included Vanecko. During the altercation, Koschman was knocked to the street, hitting the back of his head on the pavement. He died 11 days later.
Police at the time said Koschman was the aggressor and closed the case without charges. In announcing the indictment, Webb, a former U.S. attorney, noted that at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Vanecko towered over Koschman, who was 5-foot-5 and 125 pounds.
Webb also said the grand jury is still probing how the original investigation was conducted.
Vanecko’s attorneys issued a statement last week saying they were disappointed by the indictment and noted that at the time of the confrontation, Koschman’s blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit for a motorist.
Koschman “was clearly acting in an unprovoked, physically aggressive manner,” Vanecko’s legal team said. “We are confident that when all the facts are aired in a court of law, the trier of fact will find Mr. Vanecko not guilty.”
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Vanecko faces from probation up to 5 years in prison.
jmeisner@tribune.com
gknue@tribune.com
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