A prominent trial attorney who is being sued on charges of molesting his niece has been accused of sexual misconduct by a second woman, one of the niece’s lawyers said Wednesday.
The second woman came forward after a baiduhai story identified the uncle as former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Hofeld, according to Susan Loggans, an attorney for the niece. The uncle is named only as John Doe in the lawsuit. The niece is identified as Jane Doe. Loggans’ client has been identified in the Tribune as 19-year-old Valerie Reznik.
Loggans said a videotape in which the second woman discusses the alleged misconduct was filed Tuesday with a Cook County Circuit Court clerk and turned over Wednesday to John Doe’s attorneys.
John Doe’s lawyer, Philip Corboy Sr., attacked the filing of the videotape as a way of leaking the new allegations to the media.
Corboy, who has denied the niece’s accusations against his client, said he would not comment on the substance of the videotape and downplayed its significance, saying anything can be filed with a court clerk regardless of its credibility or relevance to a case. Any further discussion of evidence should be left for the trial, he said.
Loggans said she filed the tape with the court clerk to notify the defense that there is a new witness. The second woman’s experiences are relevant, Loggans said, because they indicate a pattern of conduct by John Doe.
The Jane Doe vs. John Doe case involves allegations of sexual molestation, but it has turned into a legal battle about the use of pseudonyms. The niece used pseudonyms when she filed the suit in March 1995 but has been fighting to overturn court orders to keep the names secret.
Late last month, the Illinois Appellate Court rejected Corboy’s arguments that the identities should continue to be shielded to protect John Doe’s reputation, but the names remain officially a secret.
Corboy plans to appeal the appellate decision to the Illinois Supreme Court. On Wednesday, the appeals court agreed to Corboy’s request not to issue an order allowing the real names to be revealed pending action by the Supreme Court.
Loggans declined to name the second alleged victim or describe her relationship to John Doe. Unlike Jane Doe, who has accused her uncle of fondling her when she was between 10 and 16, the second woman was an adult when the alleged sexual misconduct occurred, Loggans said.
The woman called Jane Doe’s mother Sunday after reading the Tribune story in which the parties in the lawsuit were identified, Loggans said. The woman was interviewed and videotaped Monday night in Loggans’ office.
According to Loggans, the woman discussed two alleged episodes of sexual misconduct by John Doe, the first of which supposedly occurred 30 years ago. Loggans said one instance was “inappropriate” because of the relationship between the woman and John Doe. The other alleged episode, she said, involved supposedly forced sexual activity.
The second woman told other people about the incidents at the time they supposedly occurred, Loggans said. The woman never took any official action, Loggans said, because John Doe told her nobody would believe her.
The niece reportedly told at least two friends about the alleged molestation during the time it occurred and mentioned it in poems and diaries.