Accused Highland Park July 4th parade shooter makes appearance in court
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) -- The Highland Park July 4th parade shooting suspect appeared in Lake County court Thursday after refusing to come to court for his last two hearing dates.
Crimo is facing seven counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges related to the 2022 mass shooting. He has remained in the custody of the Lake County Jail since he was charged.
Two contested issues were reviewed Thursday. The first was whether the suspect's former school resource officer who interacted with the accused shooter in middle school and high school, Highland Park police Sgt. Brian Soldano, could identify him in photos from the scene on July 4th.
Soldano gave testimony about two meetings with Crimo in 2014 and 2015 for disciplinary issues. The purpose was to establish that the officer knew what Crimo looked like.
Prosecutors then entered photos and videos of the accused Highland Park shooter walking up a ramp just before the shooting and then running down just after. Soldano said the person in the photos and videos was Bobby Crimo.
The state said the jury should know this identification. The defense said the police sergeant does not know the suspect well enough to identify him.
The other issue raised Thursday was whether the suspect's videotaped confession is admissible. Portions of Robert Crimo III's third videotaped confession were played in court.
The defense argued that an attorney hired by Crimo's father was allowed in the room as the confession was taken, but the state showed that the suspect can be heard on the confession video declining to speak with that attorney—who was waiting in the lobby. The attorney also signed several Miranda rights waivers over the course of a two-day interview.
Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said she would issue a written ruling on both the issues.
The defense argued that the detective never explicitly explained that the attorney had been "retained" already.
Those who were killed in the Independence Day parade attack were 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, of Highland Park; 35-year-old Irina McCarthy, of Highland Park; 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy, of Highland Park; 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, of Highland Park; 88-year-old Stephen Straus, of Highland Park; 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, of Morelos, Mexico; and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo, of Waukegan.
A total of 48 people were also wounded in the shooting. Among them was Cooper Roberts, then 8, who was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Prosecutors had offered Crimo a plea deal involving a guilty plea to 55 charges, including seven counts of murder and only 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. Under the plea, the accused shooter would have been sentenced to natural life imprisonment.
In June, Crimo rejected the plea deal.
The next hearing the case is set for Dec. 18. Crimo's trial is currently set for February 2025.
