Crimo Confession Contested As Accused Highland Park Parade Shooter Skips Court Again
WAUKEGAN, IL — The accused gunman in the Highland Park parade shooting skipped his latest court appearance Wednesday, prompting the judge in his murder trial to issue an order warning him that he risks forfeiting his constitutional rights to confront his accusers.
The hearing came a day after a public defender representing alleged shooter Robert “Bobby” Crimo III filed a motion asking Lake County Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti to exclude from evidence a recording of Crimo’s interrogation at the Highland Park Police Department on the night of the July 4, 2022, shooting.
Prosecutors have filed seven motions of their own. Both sides will have an opportunity to argue their respective motions at a hearing next month.
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Crimo faces 117 felony counts, including charges of first-degree murder over the fatal shootings of seven slain paradegoers — Katie Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Straus, Jacki Sundheim, Nicolás Toledo and Eduardo Uvaldo.
Assistant Public Defender Anton Trizna contends that Crimo’s statements to police were involuntary and should not be allowed to be used as evidence at his trial, arguing that police violated his client’s rights by denying Crimo access to legal counsel during his nearly five-hour interrogation.
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Trizna said a Highland Park police detective and an FBI agent told Crimo that he had the right to remain silent and to have an attorney present, but they did not give him a written form and he did not sign an acknowledgement that he was waiving his 5th Amendment rights.
About 90 minutes into his questioning, Patrick Semrad, an attorney retained by Crimo’s family showed up at the lobby of the police station and asked to speak with Crimo.
Det. Brian Bodden took Semrad’s business card back to the interview room and asked Crimo if he wanted to talk to the lawyer, though he did not inform him that his family had hired him.
“Hey Bobby, this attorney … he came to the lobby. I don’t know if you know him. You wanna talk to him or you want to talk to us? It’s up to you,” Bodden said.
“I don’t know … there’s no need to talk to the attorney,” Crimo responded.
On the request of the lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon, the detective returned to confirm that Crimo understood the attorney was present.
“You heard that the attorney’s in the lobby?” Bodden asked.
“Oh, yes. But you know, maybe for a little nice, uh, domestic case, but that’s it, yeah.” Crimo said.
A half-hour after Semrad showed up, Dillon allegedly told him that the accused shooter had declined to talk to him.
“[Crimo] was never informed that Semrad was retained by [his] family, nor specifically that Semrad wanted to speak with [him],” Trizna said in Tuesday’s motion.
Nearly an hour later, Semrad asked Dillon to take part in a three-way call with Thomas Durkin, another attorney that Crimo’s parents had hired to represent their son.
“During this phone call, Durkin asked if [Crimo] had been informed that [his] father had hired Semrad and Durkin for him. Dillon replied that he did not know,” Trizna said.
“Durkin also requested that Semrad be given the opportunity to speak with [Crimo]. Durkin’s request was declined by Dillon,” he said. “Semrad remained at the station and, approximately twenty-five minutes later, again requested to see [Crimo]. Semrad was again refused access to [him].”
According to the motion, Dillon told Semrad he could only speak to Crimo if the arrestee invoked his right to an attorney.
After the interrogation was over, Crimo’s interrogators gave him a written copy of the Miranda warnings, which he signed shortly after midnight.
The right to an attorney is protected by both the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Sec. 10 of the Illinois Constitution, and judges in Illinois have interpreted the right to counsel more broadly than federal law in certain cases.
In a major 1994 case called People v. McCauley, an appellate court ruled that any waiver of the right to counsel is invalid if an attorney for a detainee arrives at an interrogation and is denied access.
Specifically, state law requires that if an attorney retained or appointed by a detainee’s family arrives at the police station during an interrogation, the police must inform the person they are arrested that an attorney is present and wants to speak with them.
If the police fail to do so, any waiver of the right to counsel made by the defendant is not considered “knowing and voluntary,” because the arrestee lacks the crucial information that their lawyer is available to assist them.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart, who, according to Trizna’s motion, told Dillon via text message to notify Crimo that Semrad was in the lobby, issued a statement after Wednesday’s hearing.
“We are continuing to prepare for the previously set trial date, February 24, 2025,” Rinehart said. “To prepare for trial, parties file motions to settle evidentiary and legal issues in advance.”
Among the seven motions filed by the prosecution are requests to include as evidence recordings from cloud-based security cameras at the home Crimo shared with his father, as well as the data contained in an unspecified GoPro camera.
In another motion filed Tuesday, Dillon said Crimo’s father had provided police with video clips from the day of the shooting.
“In addition,” Dillon said, “one of the videos depicts a Honda Fit vehicle pulling into the driveway and an individual who the people have sought to have identified as [Crimo] exiting the vehicle in identical clothing as seen in the Studio One surveillance video prior to and after the shooting.”
Prosecutors have separately filed a motion to call as a witness a former school resource officer assigned to Highland Park High School to identify Crimo from video.
Rossetti scheduled a hearing to argue all eight pending motions, some of which the defense attorneys said they will likely not contest.
“And if Mr. Crimo does not appear in court on Nov. 14,” the judge said, “we will proceed with the hearing without him being present.”
Read more: Accused Parade Shooter Skips Court Hearing, Victims’ Families Sue Illinois State Police For $58 Million
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