Man Who Threatened State’s Attorney Still Stuck in Jail

By Joseph Hosey

A man convicted of threatening Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow was supposed to be shipped off to a mental hospital nearly three months ago but still remains in jail.

A special prosecutor assigned to the case of Jason Chance said during a Wednesday hearing that the jailed man is now fifth on a waiting list to get into Elgin Mental Health Center.

Chance, a 40-year-old resident of Downstate Lewiston, made the threats against Glasgow in a 2010 Facebook post and got a two-year prison sentence for it.

On top of the prison sentence, Chance was hit with 30 months probation with special conditions. Chance allegedly violated that probation by making threatening telephone calls to Will County Judge Matthew Bertani and Channahon Village Clerk Janet Schumacher, as well as to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

At Chance's last court appearance on June 26, his lawyer, Dan Kennedy, said he heard from defense attorney Alexander Beck that Chance was supposed to be taken to a Department of Human Services mental hospital in the coming days. Beck represents Ryan Gardner, a former Lincoln-Way Central High School teacher charged with threatening district officials.

Gardner also was ordered off to a mental hospital but was left in the Will County jail. Kennedy said in June he was told Chance and Gardner were supposed to be picked up at the same time. But when the Department of Human Services came to get Gardner and take him to Chester Mental Health Center, Chance was left behind.

Chance was forced to wear a "spit hood" during the previous hearing due to threats he allegedly made to headbutt anyone who came near him. Chance had also penned a poem in which he threatened to spit into a wound he planned to inflict on Kennedy, a source said.

After his appearance Wednesday, Chance argued with Kennedy about court papers he wants to file. Kennedy explained that Chance cannot file papers until he is found mentally fit.

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