Federal Judge Mary Rowland dismissed the lawsuit filed by former Ottawa Firefighter Ken Cusick against the city of Ottawa and LaSalle County with prejudice. That means he can’t file this type of lawsuit again. He was charged in 2017 with murdering his wife Tracy in 2006 by forcing her face into a toilet bowl. He was later found not guilty by a jury at his trial in 2019. Cusick said he was framed for the murder and that former LaSalle County State’s Attorney Karen Donnelly campaigned on a promise of prosecuting him for his wife’s death. He also alleged the defendants pushed ahead with a false and unfair characterization of him, some of them ignoring evidence that showed he didn’t do it and lying to a grand jury that eventually approved murder charges. He filed the lawsuit against people involved in the murder case including Donelly, Ottawa Police Investigator Dave Gualandri, and former County Coroner Jody Bernard among others.
Investigators said in their investigation that they believed Tracy couldn’t have drowned in a toilet by herself. They said a person by herself would have to stay conscious to keep her face deep enough in the bowl. Unconscious, her weight would settle so that her face came out of the water and she’d breathe again.