Welcome to Cook County, where you can get life in jail without a trial, without a conviction, and without committing a single crime.

Sounds like fiction, doesn’t it? Something out of Stalin’s playbook. But this is the real-life horror show playing out in the land of deep-dish pizza, machine politics, and corrupt judges who smile as they trample the Constitution.

Steve Fanady is rotting in the Cook County Jail, now entering his fourth year, not because he broke the law, but because two vindictive ex-wives want a luxury retirement they didn’t earn. And a bunch of hack judges are more than happy to oblige. Fanady has no history of violence. What he does have is a beautiful young daughter who misses him dearly and a target painted on his back.

You see, years ago, Fanady lived somewhat large. Nice home, serious income, the kind of lifestyle that makes divorce lawyers drool. Now he’s flat broke, burned by endless legal fees, and being punished for money he doesn’t have. Money that exists only in the imaginations of greedy ex-spouses, delusional lawyers and judges.

A trial judge actually guessed that Fanady had millions stashed overseas. No evidence. No proof. Just courtroom voodoo. Based on that fantasy, they’ve kept dragging him from his cell like he’s a mob boss hiding Swiss gold. Each hearing ends the same way, with the judge demanding payment and setting another hearing when the “money” will surely appear. Spoiler: it never does. Because it simply does not exist.  

As for the ex-wives lawyers? They’ve not been paid and have racked up millions in legal debt. They’ve wasted good money after bad and their Odyssey of Failure can’t end well for those legal weasels, no matter how desperately they press on. 

Cook County’s court system has invented a new kind of debtor’s prison just for Steve Fanady. And if that wasn’t horrifying enough, The llinois Appellate Court, First District, signed off on this legal disgrace with a so-called “unpublished opinion.” Gee, wonder why they didn’t want that embarrassment in the law books. Maybe it’s because the ruling is littered with factual errors, misstatements, and judicial gaslighting. Motions are now pending to correct their mess, assuming the court even cares about truth.

Let’s be honest. The judges on that llinois Appellate Court, First District panel aren’t stupid. This feels like something worse. Much worse. Anyone familiar with Northern Illinois politics knows what really makes the system tick: corruption. It’s tradition. Judges here have gone to federal prison. Some have even blown their brains out when the FBI showed up. This is the land of payoff justice, where verdicts come with a price tag and freedom depends on who you know and how much you can fork over.

Three years in that filthy, overcrowded hellhole known as Cook County Jail? Most men would sell their soul to get out. You think Steve wouldn’t empty his pockets if there was anything left? You think he wouldn’t crawl over broken glass just to hug his daughter again?

But money doesn’t exist, and that’s the entire point. This is a punishment with no end and no legal justification. Just judicial sadism with a black robe and a gavel.

Now, against all odds, Fanady has found a warrior in attorney Laura Grochocki. She’s taken on this monstrous case pro bono, because Fanady can’t afford counsel or investigators. He’s alone, except for the people who still believe that courts should obey the Constitution.

Let this case be a warning. If this legal lynching is allowed to continue, nobody is safe. Your Bill of Rights means nothing if the judges ignore it. We fought wars to protect our freedoms. Now we have judges who think they’re gods and treat human lives like pawns in a game of courtroom extortion.

In my long career, I’ve seen corruption. But this? This is among the worst miscarriages of justice I’ve ever witnessed.

Steve Fanady needs help. Now.