John Piland
Brady Smith
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The Brady Smith Case |
Brady Smith |
The Story of the Brady Smith Case
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When the news broke in May 2001 that Brady Smith had solicited a 14-year-old boy for sex, many people were shocked that such a thing could happen here in Champaign. He was the Dean of Students at Franklin Middle School, and a respected member of the community, and our community has always prided itself on being a great place to raise children. Like most parents in the area with children in school, I was deeply concerned when I first heard about it. Then, when multiple boys came forward alleging abuse, I just wanted to see justice for the boys and the community, so we could all move forward. However, my concerns turned into anger and then a deep sense of injustice when State's Attorney John Piland assigned a friend of Smith's to the prosecution and allowed Smith to plea bargain out of the most serious charges against him, despite having audiotape evidence of the solicitation. I didn't feel any better when he later sat on evidence of a probation violation for six months. I finally felt a sense of defeat when yet another plaintiff (unrelated to the criminal charges) lost his civil trial against Smith. How could our community so completely fail these kids and their parents? And what can we possibly do now to start healing these wounds? I decided that rather than simply feel bad, I would research the case to see whether my perceptions were actually backed up by facts. Is Brady Smith a pedophile? Was John Piland's handling of the case a travesty of justice? Why did the civil case plaintiff lose the trial? The result of that investigation is this website, which contains links to some of the publicly available documents about the case, as well as a discussion board to allow the public to comment on the case. I did interview John Piland about the case, so that I would understand his reasons for his actions. I found Mr. Piland to be very personable and enthusiastic in his defense of the case. Nonetheless, my conclusion, as an outsider to the criminal justice system, is that Mr. Piland's handling of the prosecution did indeed harm our community, and continued to harm it by vigorously defending and misrepresenting his record of the case. Everyone makes mistakes, but as any prosecutor will tell you, mistakes that harm communities require accountability. On Nov 2nd, 2004, voters in Champaign County resoundingly delivered that accountability by electing Julia Rietz as the new Champaign County state's attorney. She received more votes than any other candidate for any office in the county, and won by a landslide: 62%-38%. Many groups were involved in getting the facts out to voters about this and other cases that Mr. Piland has handled. Local groups included VEYA and CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, who initiated voter registration and information drives. In addition, tough but accurate and fair reporting by local media outlets like the News Gazette and 1400 WDWS radio contributed to voters getting all the facts required to make a good decision. As I stated before the outcome of this election, I do not personally know Julia Rietz nor was I involved with her campaign. My intent was never to be partisan with this website. I just believed then and still do that Champaign County needed a fresh start with a new state's attorney to gain credibility with its citizens. The outcome of the election has restored my faith in our county as a place that does care enough about local injustice to make the necessary changes to gain that credibility. I have taken great pains on this site to document the sources of facts that I present. I do include my own opinions in the story, but I hope it is easy to see the difference between my opinions and the facts, so you can draw your own conclusions. I will update anything on the site that is not true - my aim is to be accurate and fair. To begin learning about the Brady Smith case, go to the Summary Page.
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