Jerry Barrido

Name: Jerry Barrido

Age: 45

Party: Democratic

Current residence: Brookfield

Current position: Assistant Cook County public defender

Past legal experience with years of each job: N/A

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $33,252.75

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $8,732.47

Law school: DePaul University College of Law, 1999

Campaign website: barridoforjudge.com

Family: My wife, Maria, daughter, Marlena, and son, Alex

Hobbies/interests: Baseball hitting coach

Have you ever run for office before?

No.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

I am qualified for judicial office because of my extensive courtroom litigation experience. My current caseload ranges from misdemeanor to murder cases. I have tried over 250 cases and hundreds of other pre- and post-trial motions, including suppression and other evidentiary motions, fitness hearings, sentencing hearings, violation hearings, and jurisdictional transfer hearings. I’ve successfully litigated issues from the inception of a case such as race discrimination in jury selection. I have experience handling complex litigation matters involving the examination of expert witnesses in pre-trial, trial and sentencing phases in areas involving DNA, drug identification, ballistics, fingerprints, and forensic psychology. Within the public defender’s office, I have successfully interviewed for not only a merit-based transfer to the forensic science division but a merit-based promotion tantamount to the position of a senior juvenile justice attorney tasked with the primary responsibility of handling murders, the most serious sex cases, juvenile transfer petitions, extended jurisdiction juvenile cases, and habitual and violent juvenile offender cases. I focused my career in helping the children of our nation’s first juvenile court and, in doing so, developed a reputation as being one of the leading attorneys in the juvenile justice division. I have received exemplary performance evaluations and numerous commendations throughout my entire career. In addition to lecturing within the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, I have lectured for the Illinois State Bar Association, various juvenile law symposiums and seminars, and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, (IICLE) on topics ranging from motion practice, handling DNA cases and cross-examination. I have experience lecturing in both Illinois and Wisconsin. I have authored a chapter for IICLE’s practitioner’s manual in juvenile delinquency law. Finally, I add a diverse background to the bench as the only Asian-American candidate in a countywide judicial race. I have been found “Qualified” and “Recommended” by all the reviewing bar associations.

Why do you want to be a judge?

As a trial lawyer who practices law in a courtroom daily, I see a prominent figure, who I view with profound respect, placed in a position of public trust to dispense justice without bias and with the highest integrity. That position, judge, is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a person who has practiced in a courtroom with the appropriate temperament, who has accrued the necessary experience, and who has studied the requisite areas of the law.

Achieving that honor, by itself, however, cannot be the sole driving force for one’s aspiration to be a judge. Deep down, every worthy candidate must have an ideal about them that drives them to want to dispense justice fairly, without fear or bias, regardless of status, wealth, or power. In practice, lawyers zealously advocate for their client. That is their ethical obligation. However, that advocacy may not align with a just result. I am seeking the position of judge because the voice inside me has never been clearer to want to dispense justice and do the right thing for the citizens that would appear before me. I have the necessary temperament, experience, and skill to become a judge that earns the title “honorable.” I would act with humility, civility, and fairness always.

What was the most interesting case you handled as a lawyer?

The most interesting case that I handled involved me vindicating my client’s right to a fair and impartial jury trial when a prosecutor struck at least one African-American juror based on race so that the prosecutor could have a jury composed of the same race as the alleged Caucasian victim when the defendant was African-American. The case was reversed twice on appeal. The appellate court explained that racial discrimination in the selection of jurors casts doubt on the integrity of the judicial process. The appellate court held that the prosecutor’s subjective reason for striking one juror was, in fact, pretextual. In a special concurrence, another justice stated that these types of challenges of racial discrimination in jury selection, also known as a Batson challenge, resulted in a “torrent of decisions restricting the application of Batson, finding Batson challenges to have been waived, or finding Batson challenges to have been without merit under the restrictive applications of Batson established by the circuit courts.” Yet, against great odds, I was able to preserve a valid Batson violation and show that racial discrimination by the prosecutor occurred.

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

My greatest career accomplishment has been to prevent all but two instances where a juvenile was transferred to adult court based on their commission of an offense when they were children. In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court held that juveniles are categorically less culpable than adults since juveniles lack maturity and have an underdeveloped sense of responsibility as compared to adults, juveniles are more susceptible or vulnerable to negative influences and peer pressure, and the character traits of a juvenile are not as well formed as that of adults. In the two instances where the court allowed a transfer, both of the “juveniles” were ineligible to receive services in the juvenile justice system based on their age or because of their other pending adult cases.

What qualities do you plan to bring to the bench?

Judges must be an example of integrity, impartiality, and independence because they are the foundation of our entire justice system. These are the qualities I will bring to the position of judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. As a former victim-witness coordinator with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, I empathized with the crippling loss of crime victims as they sought justice in our legal system. As a career public defender, I experienced the fear and hopelessness of the wrongfully accused.

I am acutely aware through my day-to-day responsibilities of the plight of those less fortunate than I am, and I have dedicated my whole 17-year career to serving the indigent. I am prepared to be a hard-working, principled and just jurist. My strengths are my diligent work ethic, integrity and expertise in the field of juvenile justice law. Those qualities are the foundation for my success as a zealous advocate and the same qualities are assets for a judge.