The Honorable Billy Joe McDade in the Central District of Illinois denied a habeas corpus petition in favor of Vermilion County Sheriff Patrick Hartshorn in Myron Phillips v. Vermilion County Sheriff, Case No. 20-cv-2093 (C.D. Ill., May 21, 2020). Petitioner, Myron Phillips, was a pre-trial detainee held at the Vermilion County Jail, and his suit challenged the amount of bail set at his bail hearing when he was arrested in March 2020.

The Court found that the Petitioner had not exhausted his state court remedies prior to petitioning for a writ of habeas corpus. The docket of his criminal case and the transcript of his bail hearing showed that Petitioner had not moved to reduce his bond under the Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure nor had he appealed his bond determination. The Federal Court could not second-guess the bail hearing until Petitioner exhausted these available remedies in state court. Sheriff Hartshorn was represented by Michael Condon and Tony Fioretti.