What the Record Establishes

  • The July 31 order expressly identified a motion to stay by counsel as available relief.
  • Paragraph 14 of the People’s objection, verified under 735 ILCS 5/1-109, states that OSAD counsel confirmed willingness to seek a stay of the circuit court’s June 17, 2026 order.
  • The August 7 order denying withdrawal was entered with that representation before the court.
  • Counsel’s August 10 email states that the office will continue as attorney of record, that it will next order the record, and that an individual attorney will be assigned after the record is complete.

What They Have Not Produced

  • Whether appointed counsel will move to quash or stay the May 28 warrant — a yes-or-no question put in writing, with a seven-day answer requested on August 14.
  • Any stay motion, filed or drafted, on the record of No. 2-26-0352.
  • What was communicated between the appellate clerk’s office, judicial staff, OSAD, and the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor about the handling of the pro se submissions — Request No. 4 of the federal discovery motion.

The appointment is not the grievance on this page. The unfiled motion is. The court itself named the remedy in the order that restricted him, and it named it as something counsel could do.

Appellant’s “omnibus” motion, and his other pending motions, are otherwise denied without prejudice to any motion filed by his counsel, including a motion to stay.

Order, No. 2-26-0352 (Ill. App. Ct., 2d Dist., July 31, 2026)

Then the State, in a pleading verified under section 1-109 of the Code of Civil Procedure, told the court that counsel was willing to seek exactly that: OSAD counsel “has explicitly confirmed their willingness to seek … a stay on the circuit court’s June 17, 2026 order.” The motion to withdraw was denied on August 7 with that sentence in front of the panel.

What counsel wrote to his client instead

Attached is a copy of the appellate court’s order denying our motion to withdraw. As a result, our office will continue to be the attorney on your case. The next step in your case is that we will order the record to be prepared. Once the record is complete, an individual attorney in our office will be assigned to your case. After the attorney has read the record and researched the applicable law, they will contact you to discuss your options for the appeal.

Deputy Defender, OSAD Second District — August 10, 2026, 3:17 p.m.

That is an accurate description of the ordinary appellate sequence. It is also a description of a process measured in months, sent to a client whose 180-day custodial term is unstayed and whose warrant has been active since May 28. Three days earlier, the order it attached had already been entered.

The narrowest possible ask

The emergency motion filed August 14 does not allege that anyone made a false statement, and it does not ask for a finding against counsel or against the State. Its fourth prayer for relief asks the court to direct that counsel state, within seven days, yes or no: will a stay be sought. That is the version of this dispute that a court can grant without adjudicating anyone’s conduct, and it is the version that was filed.

The structural point

Appointed counsel is the door the July 31 order left open. If that door does not open, the order has closed all of them. That is not an accusation against a public defender’s office carrying a caseload; it is the reason the same week produced a federal motion arguing that state corrective process is ineffective under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(B)(ii).