A judge accused of trying to hide a beer after a drunk colleague he was riding with got into a car crash has pleaded guilty to illegally transporting alcohol.
St. Clair County Judge Jan Fiss entered his plea Tuesday and was sentenced to two months under court supervision and ordered to pay a $500 fine.
Fiss, 64, and Circuit Judge Patrick Young, 58, were returning to Belleville from a St. Louis Rams football game in December when Young's sport-utility vehicle collided with a pickup truck, injuring the pickup driver.
Young was convicted earlier this month of drunken driving. He was sentenced to two years of court supervision and ordered to pay $1,500 in fines.
Police said Fiss was seen by an officer dumping out a beer after the crash and trying to hide a beer can. He was charged under an Illinois law barring open containers of alcohol in vehicles.
Under court supervision, available only to first-time offenders, the convictions will be expunged from the record if the defendants successfully complete the monitoring.
Messages left Wednesday with Fiss were not returned. His attorney, Phil Rarick, said Fiss "regrets this matter deeply."
Fiss and Young, both Democrats, continue to serve on the bench.
Fiss stepped down as the county's chief judge after the crash until the case was resolved. Rarick said he could not comment on whether his client will try to regain that post, a move that would require fellow judges to vote.