Lawyers for the families of Bettie Jones and Quintonio LeGrier are asking a Cook County judge to impose “severe” sanctions against the city because they said its attorney let an expert witness give false testimony in a deposition last week.
In a motion filed late Monday, attorneys say that a city-retained pathologist, Dr. Hillary McElligott, was deposed in the Jones/LeGrier wrongful death suit by city attorney Barrett Boudreaux on April 20.
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The question and answer at the crux of the motion concerned McElligott’s previous retention as a consultant for the city in a separate case. Boudreaux asked McElligott, “You did not perform the autopsy in that case?” McElligott responded, “No,” according to the motion.
Previous testimony attached to the motion states that McElligott had said she did indeed perform the autopsy in question.
“Had the City’s attorney corrected the record, it would have led to the discovery that Dr. McElligott engaged in conduct in the prior case which the doctor described as ‘improper’ and a ‘conflict of interest,” the motion states.
“A severe sanction should [be] issue[d] for the City’s lawyer’s failure to correct the record when Dr. McElligott offered false testimony when the lawyer knew, or should have known, that Dr. McElligott’s testimony was not true.”
The Jones/LeGrier attorneys alleged that Boudreaux knew about all of McElligott’s involvement in the prior case because she worked on it, too.
Attorneys for the Jones and LeGrier estates are asking the judge to either “enter a sanction in default” — effectively ruling against the city in the entire case — or ban the city from using any expert witnesses at trial.
A representative for the city’s Law Department declined to comment on the motion Tuesday.
This is not the first time attorneys for the Jones and LeGrier estates have sought sanctions against the city in the case.
Last month, those attorneys argued that the city’s counsel had engaged in “depraved” and “harassing” behavior, including asking the mother of the LeGrier if she had engaged in prostitution.
Also last month, attorneys for the Jones and LeGrier estates asked Judge James O’Hara to sanction the city after a paramedic’s sworn recollection changed concerning the scene where Chicago Police Officer Robert Rialmo shot and killed both of them in December 2015.
