McCray v. Steeves

── McCray v. Steeves ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: June 04, 2026 Category: General NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). 2026 IL App (3d) 250334-U Order filed June 4, 2026 ____________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS THIRD DISTRICT 2026 LEONARDO MCCRAY, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of the 21st Judicial Circuit, Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Kankakee, Illinois, ) v. ) Appeal No. 3-25-0334 ) Circuit No. 24-LA-108 KIRSTEN E. STEEVES, TERESA LANIE, ) INDIAN OAKS ACADEMY, JOHN J. BOYD ) Honorable and SEUNG J. AHN, ) Scott N. Sliwinski, ) Judge, Presiding. Defendants-Appellees. ) ) ____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE ANDERSON delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Peterson and Bertani concurred in the judgment. ____________________________________________________________________________ ORDER ¶1 Held: We affirm the trial court’s order dismissing plaintiff’s complaint alleging legal malpractice/ineffective assistance of counsel pursuant to 42 U.S.C § 1983 because the statute of limitations has lapsed. ¶2 Plaintiff Leonardo McCray filed suit against defendants Kirsten E. Steeves, Teresa Lanie, Indian Oaks Academy, John J. Boyd, and Seung J. Ahn, alleging a “legal malpractice” claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The trial court dismissed the complaint as barred by the statute of  limitations. In addition, the trial court found that McCray failed to state a section 1983 claim against Indian Oaks Academy. McCray appeals the dismissal of his complaint as being barred by the statute of limitations. We affirm. ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 On November 12, 2024, McCray, proceeding pro se, filed his complaint against defendants. Plaintiff titled his complaint as “1983 Complaint/Legal Malpractice.” Plaintiff raises a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 legal malpractice/ineffective assistance of counsel claim against Kirsten E. Steeves, his previous public defender; Detective Teresa Lanie; former Kankakee County State’s Attorney John J. Boyd; Assistant State’s Attorney Seung J. Ahn; and Indian Oaks Academy. ¶5 Plaintiff alleges the following facts. On April 18, 2009, McCray was charged with aggravated battery of an employee at Indian Oaks Academy, a juvenile residential treatment center. McCray was fourteen years old at the time. Steeves was appointed as McCray’s public defender. Steeves informed McCray that he was facing a long prison sentence, but she could arrange for him to be sentenced to probation if he pled guilty. However, in order for this to take place, Steeves told McCray he would have to do something for her, but she did not specify what that was. On May 4, 2009, McCray pled guilty and he was sentenced to probation. ¶6 McCray alleges that following his plea, Steeves instructed McCray to sneak out of the facility at 6:30 p.m. and go to a specific parking lot. That evening, McCray met Steeves at the parking lot. McCray