Chicago City Wire

When in 2020 former Cook County prosecutor Nick Trutenko was accused of misconduct for not disclosing a relationship with a witness, he was fired immediately by State's Attorney Kim Foxx. Fast forward to 2024 and Foxx praised the new head of her post-conviction unit, Michelle Mbekeani, after a Cook County judge accused her of misconduct, and banned her from his courtroom, for claiming that her side business, which could be in direct conflict with her new role, really wasn't a business at all. 

Foxx’s office had no response to a Chicago City Wire inquiry into what appear to be different standards of conduct, and ultimately employment, for Trutenko and Mbekeani.

The Trutenko case surrounds the third trial of Jackie Wilson, convicted twice for his role in the murders of two Chicago Police officers in 1982. The revelation that Trutenko, who successfully prosecuted Wilson in his second murder trial in 1989, led to charges again Wilson being dropped.

Trutenko, and another assistant Andrew Horvat, were indicted on criminal charges in March of last year, but the case took an abrupt turn in November when Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes, presiding because of a potential conflict of interest, blasted Foxx’s office for undermining the “very foundation of the practice of law and public confidence in the law” concerning attorney/client privilege.

Special prosecutors appointed in the case quickly announced that they would file an appeal, a rare mid-trial move.

In the Mbekeani case, Cook County Circuit Judge Michael McHale on January 11 banned Mbekeani from his courtroom in a post-conviction case before him, and all future cases before him, over what he said were her evasions concerning questions about her side business, Periodsentence.com.

“…this court has also place great emphasis on her complete lack of candor and her brazen attempts to evade telling the truth,” Judge McHale said in his order. “In this court’s 17 years on the bench and 32 years in the criminal justice system, it has never seen such manipulative efforts used before a judge in open court to such a degree.”

The controversy surrounds Mbekeani’s claim during the January 8 hearing before McHale that Periodsentence, a subscription-based service which connects inmates claiming innocence with defense attorneys, was a school project for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she is pursuing an MBA – not a viable business.

But in his order, the judge said that a “conflict of interest exists on the part of ASA (Assistant State’s Attorney) Mbekeani given her commitment and duty to represent the interests of victims of crime and their families while contemporaneously serving as the Registered Agent, Director, President and CEO of a corporation that works on behalf of defendants and defense attorneys on post-conviction cases.”

Foxx’s office did not respond to a Chicago City Wire request to list other post-conviction cases Mbekeani has been working on. The office did provide CWBChicago, an online publication that reports on crime in the city, with a statement supporting Mbekeani.

“Michelle Mbekeani’s leadership of the Conviction Review Unit is anchored in her unparalleled experience, deep knowledge, and fervent dedication to justice reform,” the statement said in part. “Her extensive legal advocacy and reform work make her ideally suited for this pivotal role. The concerns raised about a potential conflict of interest with her university-level practicum project are unfounded and detract from our critical mission.”

The Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of the state Supreme Court states that lawyers have a duty to report the misconduct of other lawyers.

“The duty to report in Illinois is imposed by Rule of Professional Conduct 8.3(a) but is synonymous with the name "Himmel," the ARDC website says. “Himmel is used as an adjective ("Do I have a Himmel duty?") or a verb ("I had to Himmel that guy after what he did in the last hearing."). The term comes from the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in Re Himmel, 125 Ill. 2d 531 (1988).”

As of press time, it’s unclear if any complaints against Mbekeani have been filed with the ARDC; a spokesman for the office said that they are not permitted to divulge if an Illinois attorney is under investigation.