OAN’s Brooke Mallory
3:58 PM – Wednesday, June 26, 2024
During a hearing on Wednesday, the suspect in the July 4th parade shooting at Chicago’s Highland Park rejected a plea agreement.
A plea agreement was made available by the state, which involved admitting guilt to 55 charges—seven of which involved fatalities and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.
Robert Crimo III, the defendant, would have received a natural life sentence in jail under the terms of the plea.
The defendant, who was wheeled into court similarly to disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, initially refused to say whether or not he agreed to the terms, so the judge called a recess. However, after the recess, Crimo turned down the offer.
This past winter, a trial date of February 24th, 2025, was selected.
According to Irv Miller, a legal analyst for CBS 2, the suspect “wanted to be in control today.” Miller also stated that he was not shocked by the plea deal rejection.
“He was getting nothing out of this deal. He was getting life in prison plus 30 years,” Miller said. “He wanted to be the star. He wanted to be the guy that was calling the shots. He doesn’t like to the guy that’s taking the shots…”
Crimo is anticipated to modify his plea, according to a letter sent to victims and their families that CBS-2 obtained a copy of last week.
“It is expected that a change of plea will be presented to Judge Victoria Rossetti at the request of the state and the defense,” the letter read.
Crimo was charged with 48 charges of attempted murder, 48 counts of aggravated violence, and three counts of first-degree murder, one for each victim who died after being hit by a gunshot, shrapnel, or fragment of a bullet.
64-year-old Highland Park resident Katherine Goldstein, 35-year-old Irina McCarthy, 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy, 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, 88-year-old Stephen Straus, 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza of Morelos, Mexico, and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo of Waukegan were among those slain in the Independence Day parade attack.
The shooting also resulted in the injuries of 48 other individuals. One of the people injured, Cooper Roberts, was only 8-years-old at the time, and he was paralyzed from the waist down.
Outside of court, survivors and victims’ families’ attorneys spoke, denouncing the defendant’s rejection of the plea deal as a “calculated” move.
“All I wanted was to be able to fully grieve my mom without the looming trial, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And instead, we were, yet again, shown his complete and blatant disregard for humans or anyone, for all of us in that courtroom,” said Leah Sundheim.
The Lake County Jail is still holding the suspect. The trial is set for February 2025.
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