In LaSalle County’s stately courthouse in central Illinois, a powerful law enforcement official fought a bitter legal feud with an unflappable young lawyer, charging her with felony perjury for statements she made in a court affidavit.

Some two years later and 250 miles south in St. Clair County, a similar legal grudge match washed through the glass and concrete courthouse when a local news researcher was charged with harassing a public official for alleged statements he made outside a local diner.

In both cases, the accusations were leveled by members of Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit — the elite squad of state lawyers who typically handle cases when local prosecutors have conflicts.

In their separate corners of the state, attorney Julie Ajster, 50, and newswire court researcher Bradley VanHoose, 59, were acquitted of the felony charges.

They then used their legal research skills to gather boxes of records on the special prosecutors who attacked them in court.

“I didn’t know what the Special Prosecution Unit was until I was charged,” VanHoose told Injustice Watch. “That’s when I made it my life’s mission to find out everything I could about this agency.”

Injustice Watch independently verified these records and Ajster’s and VanHoose’s accounts, which reveal previously unreported misconduct and conflicts of interest by the Special Prosecution Unit.

An Aug. 14 Injustice Watch investigation showed the unit has faced allegations of ethical breaches, including withholding...

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