Springfield, Ill. — A former Illinois State Police lieutenant who won a federal court case against two supervisors for violating his civil rights is now asking for them to be fired.
Michale Callahan asked a Sangamon County judge Wednesday to force Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fire Lt. Col. Diane Carper and Capt. Steven Fermon.
Callahan won $360,000 in damages after a jury found in April 2005 that Carper and Fermon retaliated against Callahan for refusing to halt an investigation into a 1986 Edgar County murder case in Paris. The state has appealed.
State law requires the immediate dismissal of policy-making officials who violate a state employee’s civil rights.
Callahan’s attorney, John A. Baker of Springfield, said authorities have never investigated the potentially criminal activity the jury found.
“There needs to be some sort of repercussion. There hasn’t been anything,” Baker said.
Carper, 49, and the 45-year-old Fermon have kept their six-figure salaries since the jury found the two demoted Callahan for persisting in investigating a double murder they deemed “too politically sensitive.”
Carper, who makes $119,160, received a 1.5 percent salary increase in January, according to state records. Fermon’s salary is $109,780.
An aide said in November that Blagojevich wanted the State Police Merit Board to decide the issue. A merit board official said Wednesday the cases are pending.
