A Will County Board member was sentenced to court supervision in a computer tampering case but avoided trial when the key witness in a traffic case failed to show up for trial a second time.

Jackie Traynere told reporters on Tuesday, “This is what you call political theater,” while leaving a Will County courtroom after learning the traffic case against her was dropped.

The bicyclist whom Traynere was accused of striking on March 11, 2025 in Bolingbrook did not show up to court to testify at trial, according to Colin “CJ” Haney, Traynere’s attorney with the Tomczak Law Group in Joliet.

Special Prosecutor Bill Elward motioned to continue to the case to another date.

But Haney said he pointed out the traffic case had been filed a second time because the bicyclist did not show to court for the first case.

Will County Judge Derek Ewanic denied Elward’s motion to continue and Elward dropped the case against Traynere, Haney said.

Haney suggested it would not be possible for Elward to refile the traffic case for a third time.

“To my knowledge, it should be done and over with,” Ewanic said.

Traynere said no one gets charged twice for the same traffic case. She said, “This was political theater.”

“And as the song goes, I’m still standing,” Traynere said.

Traynere overcame the computer tampering case, which was used against her in a hotly contested campaign for the Democratic primary on March 17.

Traynere finished second among four candidates for 11th District race on the Will County Board, which was enough to move forward to the general election in November.

Computer tampering case

Traynere was sentenced on Tuesday to three months of court supervision after Ewanic found Traynere guilty of two counts of misdemeanor computer tampering but not guilty of a third count of the same offense.

But Traynere will not have a misdemeanor conviction on her record because of her lack of criminal history and her long history of public service, Haney said.

Ewanic rendered a guilty verdict based on the testimony of Traynere, a Democrat on the county board, that she accessed in 2024 the county email account of Judy Ogalla, a Republican on the county board, without Ogalla’s knowledge or permission.

Traynere testified she heard “in passing” from someone she does not remember that board members all shared the same password.

She said that prompted her to “test this idea” and she was “flabbergasted” when she discovered she could log into Ogalla’s account.

Traynere’s attorneys argued she was “sounding the alarm” and blowing the whistle on a glaring security flaw with the county’s email system.

Elward argued Traynere “tripped the alarm” and she gave several different explanations as to why she logged into Ogalla’s email account to “cover her tracks.”

Ewanic determined Traynere was not guilty of computer tampering by forwarding emails from Ogalla’s account to herself and her political ally, Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, the Democratic Will County executive.

Ewanic based his decision on Traynere’s testimony that her forwarding email to Bertino-Tarrant said, “Look what I found at the top of my inbox.”

Ewanic said that showed Traynere did not realize she was still in Ogalla’s email account.

After Ewanic issued his verdict, Traynere claimed Ewanic, a Republican, had “circled the wagons” with the rest of the Republican Party to sustain their charge.

“It goes to bias. He’s a Republican. The Republicans pressed these charges,” Traynere said.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, a Democrat, handed the Traynere case to Elward, who authorized the charges against Traynere following an Illinois State Police investigation.