Jeremy Hylka's Defense Lawyer Tries To Oust Will County Judge Amy Christiansen: Election Results Revealed

WILL COUNTY, IL — The voters of Will County, by an overwhelming margin, rejected the efforts of Plainfield criminal defense attorney JohnPaul Ivec, who campaigned as the Republican candidate trying to defeat Will County Associate Judge Amy Christiansen. This was the contested race on the election ballot to fill the judicial vacancy created by the departure of Dave Carlson from the Will County Circuit.

According to the Will County Clerk's website, with 100 percent of all Will County precincts reporting, Ivec garnered only 34.5 percent of the vote, 16,663 votes, compared to the 65.5 percent vote total for Democrat Amy Christiansen, who obtained 31,694 votes.

Election results are unofficial until certified by election authorities.

A few years ago, Ivec was frequently in the news for his legal representation as the private defense counsel for Jeremy Hylka. Hylka's career as a teacher for the Catholic Diocese of Joliet came to a sudden end after Hylka was captured on video by the Save Our Siblings group running away from the McDonald's restaurant on West Jefferson Street in Joliet where he went to meet with a juvenile boy for a sexual encounter, according to Joliet police detectives.

In January 2023, Hylka, under the legal guidance of his Plainfield criminal defense lawyer Ivec, entered a plea agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow.

According to Will County prosecutors, Hylka was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of probation after he pleaded guilty to indecent solicitation of a child and grooming. As part of the sentence, Hylka was placed on intensive sex offender probation.

Hylka also never spent a day in the Will County Jail in connection with his felonies. In 2021, he posted bond when he surrendered to the Joliet police. The SAFE-T Act did not exist at that time.

Hylka went to the McDonald's in the 1500 block of Jefferson Street expecting to meet up with a 15-year-old boy for oral sex inside Hylka's vehicle, according to the Save Our Siblings group.

In the video, the Save Our Siblings cameraman repeatedly yells, "Hey, we've got a pedophile! We've got a pedophile on the run! Pedophile on the run! Are we gonna get you, pedophile?"

Hylka taught for many years at Joliet Catholic Academy until he resigned from JCA in the summer of 2020 and got hired by Principal Lynne Scheffler at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Lockport. The Diocese of Joliet fired him after the video of him running away from the McDonald's restaurant was posted on social media.

According to his campaign website, "JohnPaul gained extensive trial and appellate experience from his work as a prosecutor with the Will County State's Attorney's Office and as a clerk with the Illinois State Appellate Public Defender.

"JohnPaul draws from his legal training at the University of Michigan, one of the nation's elite law schools, his study of comparative criminal procedure at Oxford University, and his education from the University of Michigan's Honor's Program."

As for the unofficial victor, Christiansen's campaign website informed visitors that "After years of hard work and perseverance, I was honored to be appointed to the bench by Supreme Court Justice Mary Kay O’Brien and I now serve in the felony division. Every day, I work to ensure that both defendants and victims have a voice in my courtroom.

"As trust in our institutions grows more fragile, we need judges who are highly experienced, highly qualified, and committed to fairness and equal justice for all. I am that judge. I promise to uphold the law with integrity, compassion, and an unwavering belief in justice for everyone who enters my courtroom."