On April 5, 2023, a federal jury in Peoria found in favor of a Kankakee County correctional officer and against an inmate who claimed that the officer had used excessive force while breaking up a fight in the inmate’s tier.  At trial, HC&B attorneys established that the inmate himself had intervened in a fight between two other inmates on the tier in violation of the jail’s rules and regulations.  While the videotape from inside the jail did not show the fight between the various inmates in the dayroom of the cell block, the videotape did capture most of the events which occurred immediately after the fight.  Specifically, the video showed that when the officers entered the dayroom, the inmate did not comply with the officers’ orders that he go to the ground and submit to handcuffing.  Further, the videotape did not show the officers using any unusual force during the ensuing minutes, but the video did show the inmate pulling away from the defendant officer just before the officer took the inmate to the ground to restore order.  Considering eight witnesses during a two-day trial, the jury had little problem finding that the officers’ use of force was reasonable under the circumstances, deliberating for only 30 minutes after being given the case by Judge Michael Mihm.  Michael Condon and Jason Rose represented the defendant officer in the case.