Rep. Jeanne Ives
Rep. Jeanne Ives
The Second District Appellate Court of Illinois upheld a lower court’s conviction of a former Chicago-area man fingered for making repeated threats to state Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin announced on Tuesday via a press release that the latest verdict concerning 55-year-old Stephen Bona, who in 2016 was found guilty and sentenced to two years of probation for the Class 3 felony by Judge George Bakalis.
The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office first filed charges against Bona in 2013, when he made at least two calls to Ives’s office, leaving threatening messages in both instances.
According to the press release, on one occasion Bona taunted Ives with the words “We know where you live” and “There’s no longer a ban on assault weapons.”
As part of his appeal, Bona argued that at least some of the evidence used to convict him should not have been ruled admissible at trial and that he had a right to free speech under the First Amendment.
After the latest verdict was rendered, Berlin thanked the Appellate Court for its diligence in adjudicating the matter.”
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