Court Supervision: Chris Vaughn Launched For Life

Last week was a giving us a bit of a break from the courthouse.

But we got right back to it Monday with the attorney for quadruple-killer Christopher Vaughn blaming the guilty verdict on Drew Peterson and Drew Peterson's lawyers, among other things.

The judge didn't buy this line of reasoning and declined to call a do-over and hold a whole new trial. Then he slammed Vaughn with four life sentences.

That was rough. But at least Vaughn got an early start at serving all that time, as the county packed him off to Stateville Correctional Center the very next day.

But that's not all. Let's look at what else was going on down at the courthouse during the week that just ended:

• Special prosecutor David Neal dropped the criminal charge against the son of Will County Board member Steve Wilhelmi. Neal was called in so there would be no hint of impropriety or suspicion of special treatment in how the case against Wilhelmi's son Alex Wilhelmi was handled. Alex Wilhelmi was charged with using his belt to whip a man in the street.
• Baseball immortal Carlton Fisk was supposed to be in court for his drunken driving case but ended up not having to show. The case was postponed.
• Oh, and they found Linda Fellenbaum.