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UPDATE, 3/21/12: According to a friend of Ms. Melongo, her court hearing was carried over to Monday, March 19. The same person says on that day she argued her motion to dismiss the eavesdropping charges against her on the grounds that the IL eavesdropping law is unconstitutional. The same person says Judge Steven Goebel is scheduled to issue his ruling on her motion on Thursday, April 5. 


Per a Sidebar exclusive, Annabel Melongo was incarcerated in Cook County Jail for 18 months on a $300,000 bond:

The charges? Per the April 2010 grand jury indictment, under Illinois's controversial eavesdropping law, the state alleges that Melongo uploaded to her website recordings of routine phone conversations with a courthouse clerk.

Annabel Melongo

Last November 30, Melongo (who has chosen to represent herself in court) filed a motion asking Judge Steven Goebel to dismiss the State's case on the grounds that the controversial Illinois eavesdropping law under which she was charged is unconstitutional. (Page down to view.)

She may have the wind at her back as a result of Judge Stanley Sacks's March 2 ruling that declared the state's eavesdropping law unconstitutional, a decision that made national headlines (page down to view).

That was the second eavesdropping case within a year that was tossed by an Illinois judge who deemed the law unconstitutional.

Melongo has a court date tomorrow morning. According a friend, she's scheduled to argue her motion to dismiss.

Will Melongo pull off a hat trick?

WHEN: 10AM, Thursday, March 15, 2012 
WHERE: Cook County Courthouse, located at the intersection of 26th and California Streets, Room 3A-15 (Click here for map)


In this FOX-TV News interview yesterday, here's what Judge Anthony Napolitano had to say about State's Attorney Anita Alvarez whose office has been prosecuting the Melongo case since October 2006.

(:25) The Cook County Attorney has no right to enforce this statute while two judges have found it unconstitutional. She's going to enforce it anyway.

IL v. Melongo, Defendant's Amended Motion To Declare Statute Unconstitutional And To Dismiss, November 30, 2011