SAFE-T Act

The pretrial provision of the SAFE-T Act could have kept a man in jail and potentially prevented the escalation that led to a Joliet woman’s murder, according to an advocate for domestic violence victims.

Twin brothers from Romeoville have been granted pretrial release in a Joliet robbery case after a judge found no probable cause for charges in one of the brothers’ cases, court records show. 

A Braidwood man will remain in jail after prosecutors claimed he recklessly fired a gun on the Fourth of July in the direction of Interstate 55.

A Joliet man is charged with driving drunk in a crash that critically injured a motorcycle operator and he was ordered to remain in jail after prosecutors said he told police he wanted to go back to Mexico. 

Prosecutors are seeking to keep a Bolingbrook man in jail in a case where he’s charged with the 2023 murder of a man, a teenaged girl and a child, all of whom were shot during a home invasion. 

A Chinese national from California is facing a theft charge in Will County after he was accused of stealing cash from a woman who was the victim of an email scam, police said.

A convicted killer on parole was arrested in Rockdale on gun-related charges following a pursuit by Joliet police officers.

A Lockport man charged with the 2024 first-degree murder of his wife will remain in the Will County jail as he awaits trial.

A state lawmaker wants the SAFE-T Act repealed after a Will County judge continued the pretrial release of parents charged with the drug-related murder of a child but the law's supporters note the parents have not violated their release conditions.

John Trumbla, who fulfilled a prison sentence for a 1984 Cook County murder conviction, has been out on parole for a drug conviction since 2023 and was set to be discharged from that sentence in 2026. Arrested in another drug case Friday, he was granted pretrial release Tuesday.

The TALK-LINE interview for May 9 featured Lee County State's Attorney Charley Boonstra discussing the cases that have been completed through his office and more.

A Joliet police detective remains on administrative leave and the internal affairs investigation has not been completed following his arrest last year in Kendall County on a domestic battery charge.

A Joliet man charged with a violent crime had been released from jail in 2023 on the wrong bond amount by a former Will County sheriff’s deputy, who’s now facing sex crime charges, police records show. 

A Joliet man is accused of hitting a woman following an argument over taxes, firing a gunshot into a garage wall and then driving under the influence of alcohol afterward, according to prosecutors.

A Will County judge has denied the pretrial release of a Markham man charged with the 2023 murder of a Joliet teen who was shot 25 times near a playground and community center.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is asking state lawmakers for $15 million more next year, saying his office needs a more “stable” system of funding as it takes on greater responsibilities, including the growing volume of litigation against the Trump administration.

In recent weeks, defense attorneys have filed a motion for the first time that requests the pretrial release of a Markham man charged with the 2023 murder of a Joliet teen who was shot 25 times.

A teen detainee of the River Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Joliet has been charged with the 2024 attempted murder of a detainee who suffered traumatic brain injury in an attack, prosecutors said.

A teen detainee of the River Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Joliet has been charged with the 2024 attempted murder of a detainee who suffered traumatic brain injury in an attack, prosecutors said.

James L. Ballard’s plea comes less than two months after the state appellate court upheld a Lee County Circuit Court decision to keep Ballard in jail under the Pretrial Fairness Act, known as the SAFE-T Act

A Will County judge allowed for the pretrial release of a Wisconsin man charged with criminal sexual abuse and grooming of a 15-year-old girl.

A judge ruled a Will County sheriff’s deputy conducted an unlawful search of a vehicle that led to the arrest of a Lockport Township man on felony gun possession charges.

A judge blocked the jail release of a Romeoville man charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The judge found he was a flight risk after he allegedly tried to obtain a fraudulent passport in 1998.

A Will County judge allowed the jail release of a Plainfield man facing charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child after ruling there were conditions that could mitigate his danger to the alleged victims.

An appellate court upheld the pretrial detention of a former Joliet Outlaws motorcycle club member who for a second time is facing charges of killing a woman and hiding her body.

A former officer who resigned from the Joliet Police Department on March 4, 2024 was charged last fall with domestic battery.

A Will County judge allowed for the conditional jail release of a Homer Glen couple charged with a felony offense linked to their 2-year-old child’s suspected drug overdose death.

A defense attorney has renewed his bid for the jail release of a Shorewood man facing charges tied to a deadly shooting spree carried out by a Joliet man who later died by suicide in a confrontation with police.

Homer Glen couple Alexa Balen and Edward Weiher are petitioning again for pretrial release in their child endangerment case following the death of the 2-year-old daughter. The hearing was continued until January.

A Sterling man is charged with several weapon and drug violations accusing him of being armed while possessing cannabis and intending to deliver the drug.

A Harvey man convicted of a 2019 shooting was not placed on house arrest when he was allowed jail release in Will County, just weeks before he was charged with killing a Chicago police officer, according to court records and prosecutors.

A Will County judge ruled a Chicago man charged with a fatal I-80 shooting should remain locked up under the SAFE-T Act. A prosecutor said the victim was shot nine times in the road rage incident.

Alexa Balen, of Homer Glen, who faces felony charges in connection with her 2-year-old daughter's death, was denied pretrial release in a Will County court on Friday.

In the wake of the killing of a Chicago police officer, Will County's state's attorney said lawmakers should close a “loophole” with the SAFE-T Act. Supporters of the law said his solution won't improve safety.

Johnathon P. Parker is being held in the Whiteside County Jail.

A Joliet man convicted of concealing evidence in a 2017 flare-gun attack incident that killed two women and a baby was briefly jailed on a charge alleging he trespassed at the courthouse.

A La Salle man accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old was granted home confinement on Tuesday. Three days later, he was charged with cutting off his ankle bracelet and trying to flee.

A Shorewood man allegedly hijacked a vehicle outside a New Lenox hospital and ran over an elderly man because he was “desperate and needed drugs to get rid of the withdrawal symptoms,” court records show.

A Will County judge will not allow a Joliet man charged with a gang-fueled 2021 mass shooting on Halloween to use cash bail to secure his pretrial release from jail.

A Will County judge has ordered a convicted felon charged with robbing a woman of an iPhone in Joliet to remain in jail.

A new judge assigned to the Joliet Halloween party mass shooting case may decide on Monday whether to release the defendant charged with murder. He was not let out of jail despite a pretrial release order from another judge.

A Will County judge granted the pretrial release of a Chicago man charged with the first-degree murder of another man who was killed in a shooting on Oct. 5 in Joliet.

Jonathon Gounaris has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

How would you assess the SAFE-T Act? Maura Hirschauer: We have seen that the changes made in SAFE-T Act are working. Dangerous people are being held and kept off the streets.

Kane County State's Attorney Jamie Mosser and her Republican challenger Andrew Sosnowski, both made the case for being the best choice in the Nov. 5 general election.

A New Lenox woman was arrested in September after she was accused of coming up behind the Manhattan mayor’s wife outside Fritz’s Saloon, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground.

A Joliet man who was working as a 7-Eleven clerk when he was charged with a July 5 shooting told a Will County judge that he was threatened with a gun and acted in self-defense.

A DeKalb County judge on Monday released a Kingston man charged with attempted murder in a DeKalb stabbing, citing law that requires court rulings to consider how to mitigate public threat if released.

A Joliet man who was previously released from jail by a Will County judge has been arrested a second time after he was accused again of possessing a handgun modified to fire automatically.

One year after Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate the use of cash bail, the impact on the state’s criminal justice system appears to have been far less dramatic than people on either side of the debate had predicted