Mentally Ill Cook County Judge Seeks Return to the Bench

A judge brought up on battery charges and found not guilty by reason of insanity last year wants her robe and gavel back.

Cook County Judge Cynthia Brim — diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type — appeared before the Illinois Courts Commission Friday and said she believes she can return to the bench as long as she stays on her meds.

The commission will rule on whether she can have her job back. She's been barred from the bench since March 2012, when she suffered a courtroom meltdown during which she ranted for 45 minutes about how Evergreen Park and South Holland police officers only ticket blacks and Hispanics. The next day, she threw her keys and shoved a Cook County sheriff's deputy at Daley Center.

Brim was suspended by the chief judge and charged with battery. She still receives her $182,000 salary. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity in February 2013.

Though she was charged with a crime and was not recommended for retention by various bar associations, voters re-elected her in November 2012. In fact, the Cook County Democratic Party and the Committee for Retention of Judges in Cook County, a campaign committee financed by judges, endorsed her for re-election.

The state’s Judicial Inquiry Board brought a complaint against Brim to the commission, and a board attorney said she's “mentally unable to perform her duties."

Sources last year told the Chicago Sun-Times that Brim accused south suburban police officers of conspiring against her. Sources also told the paper she would repeatedly recite her church's address, her license plate number and her parents' names.

On Friday, Brim told the commission she's been hospitalized for mental illness nine times since 1994. She would repeatedly stop taking her prescribed anti-psychotic medications.

"I can serve as a judge with full capabilities as long as I continue to take the medication as prescribed," she said. "I've had two years to think about this, and I have a different perspective and understanding of my condition. I realize now I have to stay on my medications and see a psychiatrist on a regular basis."

When it renders a decision, the commission could remove her from the bench, suspend her with pay or without, or reprimand her.

Mental illness aside, bar associations have repeatedly judged Brim's performance on the bench and found it lacking. She was "not recommended" in 2000 and 2006. Judges are elected to six-year terms.