Victoria A.F. Camron

ST. CHARLES – When Kane County State’s Attorney David Akemann leaves office at the end of November, his first assistant also will be walking out the door.

John Barsanti, who has worked in the prosecutor’s office for 21 years, will be joining the private firm of Camic, Johnson, Wilson and Barsanti said Friday afternoon.

“My time has come to go,” Barsanti said, adding that he believes there are no new challenges for him as an assistant state’s attorney. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for state’s attorney in 1992.

Akemann lost his bid for re-election in the spring primary when attorney Meg Gorecki won the Republican nomination. Democrat Robert Steffen also is running for state’s attorney in November’s general election. The newly elected official will take office Dec. 1.

Barsanti is open to practicing any type of law for his new employers, who include high-profile defense attorneys David Camic, Gary Johnson. Barsanti said he will not be a partner of the firm. Johnson was the Kane County State’s Attorney during the 1980’s.

Currently prosecuting the solicitation of murder-for-hire case against Lorin Womack, Barsanti decided to enter law school when he was a college senior and he realized he wasn’t ready to go right to work.

“What I like about it is there’s always something different,” Barsanti said. “From the very beginning, I loved the battle of trials, and I still do to this day.”