McHenry County Judge Maureen McIntyre will preside in the involuntary manslaughter case against a nephew of former Mayor Richard Daley.
McIntyre was tasked with the case Friday afternoon by McHenry County's chief judge, Michael Sullivan.
The previous judge, Arther Hill, stepped down from the case last month. Hill is a former prosecutor and high-level supervisor under Daley in the state's attorney's office. The Illinois Supreme Court ordered that a judge from outside Cook County hear the case.
Richard "RJ" Vanecko faces involuntary manslaughter charges for the 2004 death of David Koschman. He has pleaded not guilty.
McIntyre, of Cary, was first appointed to a judgeship in McHenry County in 1996. She's the presiding judge in the family division but has extensive background in other cases.
Koschman, a 21-year-old man from Mt. Prospect, was out on Division Street in 2004 when the group he was in ran into Vanecko's group. A lone punch was thrown. Koschman died 11 days later from head injuries after not recovering consciousness.
Chicago police never interviewed Vanecko, witnesses failed according to police to identify him in a lineup. Police concluded, though only one punch was thrown by Vanecko, that the cause of the altercation was self defense.
Judge Michael P. Toomin this year called that analysis a "fiction" created by police and ordered a special prosecutor be put on the case. That prosecutor, Dan Webb, announced the charge against Vanecko last month.
