Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has selected a new top aide after her former first assistant abruptly stepped down Monday.
Prosecutor Craig Engebretson has been named the new first assistant state’s attorney, O’Neill Burke announced in an email to staff. Engebretson has worked as an assistant state’s attorney in the office for over 20 years, and most recently served as chief of its Juvenile Justice Bureau.
“I am honored to have him join our executive team and look forward to his continued leadership,” O’Neill Burke wrote.
Anna Demacopoulos resigned from the position Monday after serving just eight months on the job.
Demacopoulos accepted the job last year with one caveat: “She would only do so until the ship was righted,” O’Neill Burke wrote to staff.
“After months of leading our office’s necessary restructuring, that day has come and Anna is returning to her private practice,” O’Neill Burke wrote.
O’Neill Burke’s office declined a request to interview Engebretson.
In a statement late Monday, Demacopoulos said she was proud of the progress the office had made toward “strengthening our mission, pursuing justice with integrity, and supporting the communities we serve.”
Before serving as first assistant, Demacopoulos spent 15 years as a circuit judge in Cook County and more than 20 years as a prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s office.