CHICAGO, IL – In a decision handed down by the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District, the State’s Appeal in the Mike Jones case was recently dismissed. Jones was the target of a search warrant that tore apart his home and studio in late 2000 while he and adult law attorney J.D. Obenberger attended the Chicago AWE show. Jones was indicted on charges of obscenity and child pornography before the June 2001 Internext.Last year, four days of hearings were held by attorneys on the motion to suppress. The motion was eventually granted by the judge and subsequently appealed by the State. However, the State filed its motion to reconsider the judge’s ruling a day past the deadline, essentially rendering the notice of appeal ineffective. The appellate court concluded that it had no appellate jurisdiction in the case.

The State can now appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court within 21 days, or within 35 days upon filing a Notice of Intent to do so. According to Obenberger, there is little chance the Supreme Court will take this kind of case.

The motions to suppress were written by Reed and Obenberger, while Obenberger handled the hearings. He was assisted by Reed who conducted the examination of the computer expert, and wrote the appellate briefs and motions.

While the State can try to proceed without the suppressed search results, Obenberger believes that is an unlikely scenario as well.

The matter goes back to trial court for status on June 22. Obenberger is optimistic. “Perhaps we will know then if the state will, as I suspect, dismiss the prosecution for want of evidence.”