Dr. Mike Oster for Coroner

Lake County GOP Calls For Coroner to Resign

Lake County GOP Criticizes Coroner for His Role As Paid Defense Witness For A Child Molester Lake County Coroner Richard Keller has used his office to defend a child molester. Predatory sexual assault of a child is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable. In this case, the victim was a five-year-old child, and the defendant, Montel Branch, was convicted of this crime by a Lake County jury. Branch had a long criminal history. On Friday, September 19, 2008, Branch was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Although Montel Branch thankfully was convicted, what was outrageous about his trial was that the paid expert witness for Branch was Lake County Coroner Richard Keller. The Coroner is the second highest law enforcement agent in the County. In fact, the only person that could arrest the sheriff is the coroner. It is astonishing that Richard Keller would use that position to be a paid defense expert witness for a convicted felon in a child molestation case. Lake County Chairman Daniel Venturi condemned Keller's actions and called for his resignation. "The office of Coroner is a full-time obligation, and is not something that you can put on hold to take a side job in a position that compromises the integrity of the office," said Venturi. "In addition, it has the potential to cause confusion to a jury when the second-highest law enforcement officer in the county appears as a paid witness for the defendant," Venturi continued. Almost as offensive is the fact that Richard Keller hired himself out at $100 per hour to work as a defense expert while being paid a six figure income as Lake County Coroner. "Ironically, even though Richard Keller testified on behalf of the defense, the jury obviously disregarded his testimony and the individual was still convicted of the horrific crime," said Venturi. "The citizens of Lake County deserve better; they deserve law enforcement officials who will honor their oath of office and advocate for the victims of crime, and not the predators. There is no excuse for Richard Keller's action and he should immediately resign as Lake County Coroner." Keller is being opposed in the November election by emergency room physician Dr. Michael Oster, of Gurnee.