Marissa attorney Hilmes to run for circuit court judge
Attorney B. Marshall Hilmes will run for the 20th Judicial Circuit judicial vacancy created by the retirement of Circuit Judge Jan V. Fiss.
The circuit includes the five counties of Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington. Hilmes will run in the Republican primary election to be held on March 20, 2018.
“I will work hard to ensure justice for all people, and to fairly apply the rule of law,” he said. “The people of the 20th Circuit deserve judges who will be fair, impartial, and who will work hard and consistently to apply the law with compassion, humility, and integrity. Southern Illinois is ready for additional changes in their judiciary that better reflect the values and principles of the people. With my background and experience, I am qualified for the position, I have the experience necessary to do the work, and I have the necessary judicial ethics to serve the people well.”
Hilmes, 46, began his legal career before he began law school as a court-appointed special advocate representing abused children as a guardian ad litem. As a prosecutor and assistant state’s attorney for St. Clair County, Hilmes handled both civil dockets for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and criminal dockets, including traffic cases, misdemeanor trials, DUI suspension hearings and trials and DUI roadblock duties.
Hilmes was also responsible for issuing felony charges, felony bond reduction hearings, felony preliminary hearings, felony grand jury complaints, murder and child pornography investigations, charging complaints, and presenting grand jury indictments, felony bench and jury trials, as well as mental fitness jury trials, warrant duty, and election crimes investigations, prosecutions and trials. Hilmes represented the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office to create — in cooperation with the United States Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals, the FBI, the Illinois State Police, and numerous local police departments — a Southern Illinois Violent Crimes Task Force.
Currently, and for several years, his private practice of law has included multiple public service commitments. His public service commitments include municipal prosecutor, municipal city attorney, arbitration hearing officer for the state of Illinois, and Municipal Zoning and Hearing Officer. He has handled cases in Bond, Clinton, DeKalb, Franklin, Kane, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, Richland, Saline and St Clair Counties, among others. He currently focuses his practice in the counties of Madison, Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St Clair and Washington. His office is located in Caseyville.
Hilmes has lived in the Metro East area for his entire life. He now lives in Marissa with his wife, Debora. He has three adult children, a godson and a granddaughter. Both of his sons have served in the U.S. Navy, and he is a longtime and loyal supporter of the American armed forces.
Hilmes earned his associate’s degree from Belleville Area College, now known as Southwestern Illinois College, his undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and his Juris
Doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law. While he worked his way through his undergraduate education’s, he was employed by UPS in Belleville. He was a member of the Teamsters Union, package division.
— The Illinois Business Journal
