For the second time in as many months, the man accused of the mass shooting during Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade did not appear in court as scheduled Wednesday.
Assistant Lake County Public Defenders Greg Ticsay and Anton Trizna waived the appearance of their client, Robert Crimo III, who has not showed up for proceedings since he backed out of a plea deal in June.
Noting the defendant’s absence, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti confirmed he had been advised at his arraignment that the proceedings against him will move forward in his absence. She also noted that if he refuses to come to court, he will waive the right to confront witnesses against him.
Wednesday’s hearing marked the filing deadline for pretrial motions in advance of the trial, scheduled for February. Ticsay and Trizna filed a motion to suppress evidence. Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Ben Dillon filed a total of seven motions for certified records and police identification among others.
Rossetti set a hearing on the motions for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 14.
The defendant is charged with 21 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Highland Park residents Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63; and Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife Irina McCarthy, 35. Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan, also were killed in the attack.
Nearly 50 others were wounded in the attack, which took place about 10:15 a.m. July 4, 2022. According to authorities, the 23-year-old defendant perched atop a downtown Highland Park rooftop and fired dozens of shots from a military-style rifle into the crowd below for the city’s annual July 4 parade.
The defendant, a Highwood resident, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He remains incarcerated in the Lake County jail.
If convicted of two or more murders, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.