Larry Vandersnick retired as a circuit judge Nov. 20, but it most likely wasn’t be the last time he’ll work in the courtroom.
  
Vandersnick said he has mixed feelings about leaving the bench, but  probably won’t come back as a mediator or arbitrator as other 14th circuit judges have done in the recent past. He would more likely become a special assistant prosecutor or even a special defense attorney.
 
“I like the adversity part where you’re for a plaintiff or defendant and represent a client,” he said.

    After graduating from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, he spent five years in private practice, working two days a week as an assistant prosecutor on juvenile cases.

    He became the Henry County State’s Attorney in 1982 and moved to the bench in 1994.

    He was first elected to the bench in 1994, running a successful race against Walter Braud.

    Once elected, judges take a low profile and voters merely decide, every six years, whether they should be retained. If they don’t get a certain percentage of the vote, however, judges have to run against an opponent and Judge Vandersnick said in that instance, most simply opt not to run. He said he’s glad judges are out of the political spotlight.

    “It’s good because it’s a different role. You take an oath to be fair and impartial and avoid any appearance of impropriety,” he said. “I like the courtroom aspect of it all. And I’m only 57 and in good health, and I enjoy the law.”

    When Vandersnick first worked as  a judge in Rock Island County, judges tended to focus on one type of law. In contrast, in Henry County, judges don’t specialize but hear  a variety of cases ranging from criminal to civil including probate, adoption and divorce.
  
  He’s appreciated the change of pace, he said. Vandersnick noted arbitration in civil cases involving less than $50,000, and mediation in divorce cases have both lessened the caseload in circuit court in recent years.

    He is taking at least a year’s  break to pursue other interests including real estate and travel.
 He and his wife Caryn have two sons: Christopher, 22 and Connor, 12.
   
“The courthouse staff and administrators are hard-working and caring people and they’ve become not only my co-workers but my friends. They have helped me help other people. I really like what I’m doing,” he added. “I feel I’ve helped some people out.”

    He said just this month he discharged a man successfully from probation and the man gave him his two-year abstinence medal.

    “He said, ‘Judge, I want to give this to you because without you I wouldn’t have gotten it,’” said Vandersnick.

    “That doesn’t happen very often,” he continued candidly. “You don’t get a whole lot of thanks in this job. So that guy was rehabilitated.”

    In his time as a judge, Vandersnick said state legislature hasn’t changed the law as much as the Illinois Supreme Court rulings have.

    As an example, he cited a boyfriend murder case where the dead child’s mother was convicted of murder for allowing her child to be killed by her boyfriend.

    The Supreme Court changed the law and reversed all mothers’ convictions under the accountability standard. In general, however, he said penalties and laws are growing more strict.

    “Simple felonies are Class X felonies now,” he said.

    At the same time, the Appellate and Supreme Courts are constantly changing the law on vehicle searches where drugs are seized by the police.

    “We do a lot of ‘motions to suppress,’” he said. “Even though someone is caught red-handed with 100 pounds of cocaine, if it’s a bad stop, they’re going to throw it out.”

    Twenty years ago, there was no such thing as an “order of protection,” he said, but now many are issued and the judge said it’s sometimes frustrating when a woman signs the petition attesting to certain behaviors, but then doesn’t show up for a hearing date because she’s changed her mind.

    “She’s forgiven her spouse or it wasn’t true and you hear the other side, but you can’t take the chance. You want to believe them,” he said.

    Vandersnick said what he’ll miss most are jury trials, when the judge’s role is to “act as gatekeeper” and allow good evidence in and keep bad evidence out.

    He said, as judge, his job is to balance protecting the public with giving the offenders the chance for rehabilitation.

    “The toughest part of being a judge is trying to figure out whether this person is going to be harmful back on the street or whether he can be rehabilitated,” he said.

    He said he is also mindful of the $23,000 per year cost of sending someone to prison.

    “The system seems to work more (often) than it doesn’t,” he said.