An Aledo man’s jury trial called off this morning in Mercer County Circuit Court after he enters a guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge. As part of the agreement, 43 year old Michael Paladino will pay $804 in juror fees plus court costs. He was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail last fall for criminal contempt after numerous verbal exchanges with Judge Greg Chickris during his first jury trial in late October.
In exchange for his guilty plea today, obstructing justice, resisting arrest and a traffic offense of electronic communications device were dismissed. The charges stemmed from an August of 2018 arrest. Paladino was originally arguing the court had lack of jurisdiction in his case because he claims to be a sovereign citizen.
