The jury trial of a former Hebron mayor on drug and gun charges, which was scheduled to begin Monday, was postponed at his attorney’s request.
John Jacobson, 71, sat quietly in the courtroom until Judge Sharon Prather called for his case to be heard. Attorney Dan Hofmann then asked the judge for a continuance until May 21.
Hofmann said there has been a motion to dismiss on file that has not been argued. He also said he plans to file a motion to suppress evidence that could be presented at trial.
Jacobson is charged with felony possession of a firearm on a revoked owners identification card and possession of a controlled substance. The charges stem from an incident that took place while Jacobson was still mayor.
He also faces misdemeanor charges for illegal possession of ammunition without a FOID card and possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to court documents filed in McHenry County, about 1 a.m. March 17, 2016, a young woman called police and said she had been with Jacobson throughout the evening. The woman said Jacobson had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine.
She called for help, saying Jacobson was in the bathroom unresponsive and turning blue. She said he was sitting on the toilet with his head back with “his eyes rolled back into his head and taking shallow breaths,” according to the document.
Paramedics arrived to find Jacobson lying on the bathroom floor. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released.
When police arrived they saw drugs and drug paraphernalia lying around the bedroom, including a clear glass pipe containing burnt residue and a yellow powder substance of suspected crack cocaine. They later returned to the home with a search warrant and collected the items.
On May 2, 2016, defense attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charge of possession of a controlled substance. They claim Jacobson has immunity from prosecution of the drug possession charge based on the Illinois Controlled Substance Act.
The act states that “a person experiencing an overdose shall not be charged or prosecuted for a class 4 felony possession of less than thee grams of cocaine if the evidence for the charge was acquired as a result of the person seeking or obtaining emergency medical assistance.”
The attorneys wrote that evidence shows Jacobson had less than three grams of cocaine in his possession.
Jacobson was elected mayor in 2013 and defeated in a bid for re-election in 2017. Hebron, with a population of about 1,200, is just south of the Illinois-Wisconsin border.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.