Kane, DuPage state’s attorneys seek clarification how SAFE-T Act ruling applies to counties not included in lawsuit

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser filed an Emergency Motion for Supervisory Order with the Illinois Supreme Court Friday, seeking clarification regarding implementation of the SAFE-T Act, which will go into effect tomorrow.

“Specifically, the Motion asks the Supreme Court to ‘exercise its supervisory authority to enter an order sufficient to maintain consistent pretrial procedures because without such an order, defendants in different jurisdictions will be subject to different treatment upon arrest and throughout pretrial proceedings, creating an equal protection problem for citizens across the State,’” according to a news release.

The motion comes in response to the Wednesday ruling from Kankakee County Judge Thomas Cunnington that found a provision of the SAFE-T Act that allows defendants to be released without cash bond was in violation of the Illinois Constitution. The ruling only applies to the counties that were included in the lawsuit. Kane and DuPage counties were not among them, so the ruling would not apply to those counties.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a notice Friday to appeal the Kankakee County judge’s ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.

“Recent legal filings and court rulings however, have put the implementation of the Safe-T-Act into question, specifically, confusion statewide regarding the legal impact of 21st Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cunnington’s ruling on all 102 counties in Illinois. ... As State’s Attorneys for Illinois’ second and fifth largest counties, our top priority is to protect the public. We have no personal or political agenda regarding the Safe-T Act and remain committed to serving the residents of DuPage and Kane counties under legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor,” the release from Mosser and Berlin stated.