State’s attorney in Menard County appointed as at-large judge in Eighth Judicial Circuit

QUINCY — Gabriel T. Grosboll, who has served as the state’s attorney in Menard County since 2017, has been appointed as an at-large circuit judge in the Eighth Judicial Circuit. The announcement was made Friday morning by Justice Lisa Holder White and the Illinois Supreme Court.

Grosboll’s appointment becomes effective after he is sworn in on Jan. 31, and it will conclude on Dec. 7, 2026, after the November 2026 general election.

A screening committee was formed to assess the qualifications of six people who applied for appointment to the office of at-large circuit judge for the Eighth Judicial Circuit. The vacancy resulted from the election of Amy Lannerd to the Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth Judicial District, effective Dec. 2, 2023. 

The other candidates were: 

• Timothy A. Bass of Springfield, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of Illinois.
• Jonathan S. Hoover of Quincy, who became the chief public defender in Adams County on July 15, 2024. 
• Jennifer A. Winking of Quincy, deputy general counsel with the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission since November 2023. 
• Laura Keck, lead trial attorney for the Adams County State’s Attorney Office since August 2024. 
• Kevin Tippey, an associate judge in the Eighth Judicial Circuit since 2017. 

Grosboll, 50, was elected three times in his role as chief criminal prosecutor for Menard County. His previous prosecutorial experience includes several years working in the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office as an assistant state’s attorney and in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General as an assistant attorney general. 

Grosboll also worked for the Illinois Department of Public Health, where he was an administrative law judge conducting contested hearings, and worked as a general counsel for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

In a Friday morning interview, Grosboll said he plans to maintain his residence in Petersburg.

“I don’t know for sure yet what’s going to happen, but one of the things that was discussed would be seating me somewhere central in the circuit, because this is an at large position where I’m serving all eight counties,” he said. “If I’m more central in the circuit, I can go to Adams when I need to. I go to Schuyler when I need to. I can go over to Calhoun as needed. Where that is exactly, I don’t know yet. Everybody’s trying to figure out what makes the most sense.”

The Eighth Judicial Circuit consists of Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Mason, Menard, Pike and Schuyler counties. It has 11 circuit judges, with one chief judge for each county, and five associate judges. Along with Grosboll, the circuit judges are:

• Michael Atterberry of Petersburg  (Menard)
• Tad G. Brenner of Quincy (at-large)
• Charles H.W. Burch of Hardin (Calhoun)
• Jerry J. Hooker of Mount Sterling (Brown)
• Scott D. Larson of Quincy (Adams)
• J. Frank McCartney of Pittsfield (Pike)
• Christopher Pratt of Quincy (at-large)
• Roger B. Thomson of Havana (Mason)
• Mark L. Vincent of Rushville (Schuyler)
• Timothy J. Wessel of Virginia (Cass)

The five associate judges are:

• Zachary P. Boren of Pittsfield
• Holly J. Henze of Quincy
• Josh Jones of Quincy
• Kevin D. Tippey of Petersburg
• John C. Wooleyhan of Quincy

“Grosboll is a person of the highest integrity with extensive and varied experience in the law,” Holder White said in the press release. “Those qualities, along with his deep roots in the Eighth Circuit, make him uniquely qualified to serve the citizens as a judge.”

Grosboll, who will be sworn in on Jan. 31 in Menard County, said he was shocked to receive the congratulatory phone call from Holder White on Thursday morning.

“I’m usually not speechless, but I was sort of speechless,” he said. “I think (Holder White) was giggling at me because I was having a hard time talking, but then I pulled it together. It was a really nice phone call. I was not expecting it, and I’m really excited about it — and nervous, too.”

Grosboll earned his bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and earned his Juris Doctor from Southern Illinois University. His professional affiliations are with the Tri-County Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. He is a past board member of the Illinois Government Bar Association.

The screening committee for the at-large circuit judge position consisted of non-lawyers and lawyers who reside in the Eighth Judicial Circuit. The non-lawyer members of the committee are Kerry Anders, Clairice Hetzler, Jill Reis and Chris Solaro. The lawyer members of the committee are Justice M. Carol Pope (ret.), Judge Bob Hardwick Jr. (ret.), and Attorney Natalie Oswald. Hardwick was chairperson of the committee.