Illinois judge accused of lying to police to protect former roommate accused of murder

A circuit judge in Belleville, Illinois is under investigation after being accused of lying to homicide detectives investigating a murder that involved a former roommate, the St. Louis Dispatch is reporting.

According to the report, St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Duebbert is facing a complaint filed with the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board based on accusations of making false statements and withholding information in the shooting death of Carl Silas, 28, in December of 2016.

The complaint states that Duebbert lied to protect his friend and former roommate David E. Fields, 20, who has been accused of the murder.

According to the report, the judge lied to investigators about the whereabouts of a phone Fields had the night of the murder and then lied about when he had last spoken to Fields. In his interview hours after the alleged murder, Duebbert told detectives that Fields returned the phone to him weeks earlier, when he knew he had given Fields the phone the night before.

He also refused to disclose that he had spoken with Fields hours after the alleged murder.

The complaint against the judge states that Duebbert and Fields became friends back in 2013 and kept contact with each other after Fields was jailed for aggravated assault in 2015. After his release in 2016, Fields moved in as a roommate in days before Duebbert was elected judge.

Fields returned the phone in question to Duebbert when he moved out, however he called him Dec. 29, 2016, and asked to get it back in a late night meeting in a  parking lot in Belleville, hours before Silas was killed the next morning.

The complaint states Duebbert spoke by phone with Fields later and was aware that Fields was a suspect in a murder by the time detectives interviewed him in the afternoon.

Duebbert told investigators Fields had returned the cell phone and that he had not been in contact with him, making the same claim when he came before the  Judicial Inquiry Board on May 12 and June 9.

The Judicial Inquiry Board filed the complaint on Thursday with the Courts Commission and is seeking to take disciplinary action against Duebbert, including removal from office.

The report notes that Duebbert is already under investigation for felony sexual abuse and intimidation, battery and solicitation of a sexual act according to court documents filed Monday.

Duebbert has been accused of grabbing a client's genitals and offering to reduce his fee by $100 in return for sex.

You can read the whole report here.