Statements made by Robert Crimo III the night of the July 4 Highland Park parade mass shooting should be barred at trial because an attorney did not have access to Crimo, his attorneys argued Wednesday.
Prosecutors countered that Crimo voluntarily agreed to talk.
Police informed Crimo, accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens more during the July 4, 2022 parade, that an attorney was in the lobby of the police station. Crimo, however, was not informed by police that the attorney was hired by his father, his public defenders said during a hearing in Lake County Court.
That omission violated Crimo’s rights, Assistant Public Defender Gregory Ticsay argued.
“When a retained attorney does not have access, it violates (Crimo’s) due process rights, period,” Ticsay told Judge Victoria Rossetti. He said the judge should bar any statements made after the lawyer arrived at the Highland Park police station.
The judge said she would take the matter under advisement and issue a written decision. She set Dec. 18 as the next pretrial hearing date.
Ticsay said Crimo’s father retained an attorney as authorities searched his residence in the hours after the mass shooting, then asked the attorney to provide advice to Crimo III.
Crimo had been answering questions for about 90 minutes when the attorney arrived. A Highland Park detective interviewing Crimo that night told him an attorney was in the lobby, but Crimo said he wanted to continue talking with police, prosecutors said.
Crimo spoke for several more hours that night and the lawyer left the police station without having had the opportunity to speak with him, according to his testimony at the hearing.
Prosecutors showed video clips of the interrogation in court, including when the officer asked Crimo several times during the night if he wanted a lawyer or if he wanted to make a phone call. Crimo refused each time.
Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Facklam said Crimo voluntarily decided not to speak to the attorney.
“It is the defendant’s decision to waive those rights,” Facklam told the judge. “It doesn’t depend on a third party.”
In a separate case argued Thursday, prosecutors asked the judge to allow a police officer to testify at trial that a subject shown in security video from the day of the shooting was, in fact, Crimo. They showed video of someone accessing a ramp before the shots were fired from the top of a downtown building, then leaving about 10 minutes later.
Highland Park Police Sgt. Brian Soldano said he believed the person in the video was Crimo. He said he based his testimony on a number of interactions he had with Crimo while he was a school resource officer years before. The defense team moved to bar the testimony and the judge said she would issue a written ruling.
Crimo is scheduled to stand trial on dozens of counts of first-degree murder and other assault charges in February.
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