Father of accused Highland Park parade gunman pleads not guilty to felony charges
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) -- The father of the accused gunman in the Highland Park July 4th parade massacre pleaded not guilty on Thursday to felony charges that he recklessly helped his son obtain a gun license.
Robert Crimo Jr. was indicted Wednesday on seven counts of felony reckless conduct. He is accused of sponsoring his son's Firearm Owner's Identification card application just three months after a September 2019 incident in which police were called to the family's home, because the younger Crimo was threatening to "kill everyone" with a collection of knives and swords.
Crimo Jr. is charged with one count of reckless conduct for each of the seven people who were killed in the massacre. Each count of felony reckless conduct carries up to three years in prison – but these would likely served concurrently for a total sentence of three years, according to Lake County prosecutors.
At his arraignment on Thursday, Crimo Jr. pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is due back in court on April 4.
Crimo Jr. was originally charged in December, and is free on $50,000 bond. His defense attorney has called the charges "absurd."
"He has done nothing wrong," attorney George Gomez said after Crimo Jr. was first charged in December. "We're going to be fighting this every step of the way."
Gomez said his defense will center around parents overall not being responsible for the actions of their adult children.
"I don't think there is any way, possibly, that someone can say that a parent, especially consenting for an adult that's 19 years old, can be able to predict the future," he said.
In response to whether that still applied even though he did exhibit some violent behavior before signing that document, Gomez said, "I don't believe there's evidence at this moment showing that."
But prosecutors have said Crimo Jr. shares responsibility for his son's crimes.
"Parents who are reckless when they help their kids get weapons of war are morally and legally responsible for the harm that follows. We presented our evidence to a grand jury, and they agreed the case should move forward. We will continue to seek justice for the victims and prosecute those who endanger the community," Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement.
The charges were brought on the grounds that Crimo Jr. "signed, as a sponsor, the parent/legal guardian FOID card affidavit, allowing his son, Robert Crimo III, to obtain a FOID card he was not otherwise allowed to obtain, and consenting to Robert Crimo III to possess and acquire firearms and firearm ammunition with said FOID card."
Rinehart has said Crimo Jr. "took a reckless and unjustified risk when he decided on December 19, 2019, to sign his son's application for a Firearm Owners Identification card."
In Illinois, 18, 19, and 20-year-olds may only obtain FOID cards with parental sponsorship.
Crimo Jr. sponsored his son's FOID card application just three months after a September 2019 incident in which police were called to the family's home, because the younger Crimo was threatening to "kill everyone" with a collection of knives and swords.
Crimo Jr. had to sign a two-page waiver attesting to his ability to be a sponsor. Prosecutors said Crimo Jr. knew about his son's violent history and should not have signed that waiver.
Highland Park police officers had asked Illinois State Police for a Clear and Present danger designation for Crimo III after the September 2019 incident, but State Police did not grant the designation.
Such as designation could have prevented Crimo from purchasing a firearm. But Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said there was not sufficient evidence at the time to deem Crimo a Clear and Present Danger.
Rinehart has said, despite the fact that State Police approved the FOID application for Crimo III, his father has been charged with reckless conduct for sponsoring his son for a FOID card with the information he himself had about his son's background.
"Illinois State Police do not know more than parents do," Rinehart said.
Crimo III faces 21 counts of first-degree murder - three counts for each person who died in the massacre - along with 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, one for each surviving victim who was struck by a bullet, bullet fragment, or shrapnel.
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller has said the move to charge the parent of an accused gunman is not out of the ordinary.
"I think this is pretty typical of what would happen in a case like this - anywhere in the country, frankly," Miller said. "There's other cases right now in other states dealing with parents not taking appropriate steps in knowing what their child might hide."
Meanwhile, the newly-announced charges are not offering much closure for some.
"It's not enough," said Kitty Brandtner. "It's not enough."
Brandtner leads March Fourth, a nonprofit formed in the wake of the mass shooting. The organization is pushing for legislation to ban assault weapons on the federal level.
"The charges today, in my opinion, are the bare minimum of justice that these families deserve," Brandtner said, "but the real travesty here is that anyone can buy a weapon of war."
Killed in the Highland Park parade massacre were Katherine Goldstein, 64 of Highland Park; Irina McCarthy, 35, of Highland Park; Kevin McCarthy, 37, of Highland Park; Jacki Sundheim, 63, of Highland Park; Stephen Straus, 88, of Highland Park; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan.
The mass shooting in Highland Park, and other high-profile shootings this year in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York among others, sparked a renewed push for legislation at the federal level to ban on semi-automatic weapons. Highland Park survivors and doctors who treated victims have even made the trip to Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to act.
Illinois state lawmakers are already in the process of conducting hearings on a potential semi-automatic weapons bill.
Survivors of the Highland Park shooting have also filed multiple lawsuits against a gun manufacturer, distributor, retailer, Crimo and his father, accusing them of responsibility for the massacre. It's a similar strategy to the one taken by the family and survivors of the 2012 Sandy Hook school killings, who earlier this year reached a $73 million settlement with the firearm company that produced the rifles used in that attack.