David K. Overstreet

Name: David K. Overstreet

Age (as of Election Day): 54

Current residence: Mt. Vernon

Current position: 5th District Appellate Justice, 2017-present

Past legal experience: Circuit court judge, 2nd Judicial Circuit Court, 2007-17; attorney, Mitchell, Neubauer, Shaw & Hanson P.C. (formerly Neubauer, Hanson & Overstreet P.C. and Neubauer & Overstreet P.C.) in Mt. Vernon, 1995-2007; attorney, the Law Office of Peter G. Angelos in Knoxville, Tenn., 1992-95; attorney, Miller, Tracy, Braun & Wilson Ltd. in Monticello, Ill., 1991-92

Campaign funds available, Nov. 22 to Dec. 31: $733.69

Campaign funds spent, Nov. 22 to Dec. 31: $206.13

Law school: University of Tennessee, 1991

Campaign website: justiceoverstreet2020.com

Family: Wife, Suzanne; three children.

Have you ever run for office before?

Yes. After being appointed to the bench, I successfully ran for election in 2008 and was retained in 2014. I was assigned to the 5th District Appellate Court in 2017, and successfully ran for election to the appellate court in 2018.

Why do you want to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court?

I’ve got a passion for serving the public through the judiciary, and with my experiences — almost 10 years on the circuit court and now three years on the appellate court, as well as various extracurricular judicial committees, including the Illinois Judicial Conference, I believe I’m in the best position to not only serve the public as a qualified judge — who knows the law, who’s got a record of being fair and impartial — but also I’ve got the experiences on the Supreme Court with all the efforts I’ve been involved with.

I feel like it’s my duty, I’ll be honest with you. I tell people: It’s not about me — in the sense that I am very blessed to be serving as an appellate judge right now — but I’ve been given these experiences, these opportunities to lead, and now it’s time for me to step up. And, I offer my services to the public, and I just think I’m the most qualified and the best candidate to lead the Supreme Court in the future.

What’s one of the most interesting cases you’ve presided over as a judge?

I presided over a civil jury trial in the 2nd Circuit a number of years ago. And this gentleman was injured when folding stairs going up into the attic had collapsed on him. And this gentleman had severe injuries. There’s no doubt about it.

But he had sued a couple of Amish gentlemen who happen to be in the neighborhood working on some other construction project and they came over to, as I recall, to hold the stairs or something, to just assist him in some fashion — but those Amish gentlemen who were being good neighbors were sued.

When it came to trial, they did not have an attorney. It was part of their beliefs that they represent themselves. And they did a jury trial. And they were very genuine and smart. And they asked good questions, but they were very sincere.

The jury came back and gave a verdict for these Amish gentlemen. And there were several members of the Amish community that came to the trial every day, from the elders to the youngest, and they were all very polite and respectful. And that case stands out to me because I think that the jury used their common sense and did their job. These gentlemen were being good neighbors, and the verdict worked out for them.

How do you propose the court promote access to justice and ensure that low income, pro se litigants can successfully navigate the courts?

Well, the efforts that are going on right now through the Illinois Judicial Conference is greater use of forms for those who represent themselves. I think that’s part of the solution. But also, there’s now an initiative to have self-represented litigant coordinators, as a first step in each circuit. And these are, to my understanding, more volunteers and even folks who might be librarians or folks who work with the public to basically point out to self-represented litigants forms — and also talk to them about where they need to go to file this or to go to court.

But, the ultimate idea is to have a coordinator in each county courthouse. That is something that I think is needed to at least allow those folks who are representing themselves to be more comfortable and obviously have the knowledge to know how to proceed with the process.

Of course, these coordinators do not give legal advice; that’s just for lawyers. But, that is one way to ensure that these folks at least have more at ease within the system. And, hopefully, that gives them a leg up on presenting their case if they’re more comfortable doing so.