Streator attempted murder suspect still awaits new trial setting

Last month, Courtney Perkins fired the public defender and told the judge he’d act as his own lawyer – even though he could face a near-life sentence for attempted murder.

Five weeks later, the Streator man appears to have decided not to represent himself after all. The public defender is back to help Perkins fight charges alleging that he shot at (but missed) a drug agent.

Perkins, 20, appeared Friday in La Salle County Circuit Court and left with a March 31 status hearing on four pending felony charges led by attempted murder. Assistant La Salle County Public Defender Doug Kramarsic advised the court that he needs time to review the case before it’s put back on the trial call.

Perkins was to stand trial last month, but that setting was postponed after Perkins, apparently unhappy with his legal advice, announced that he’d try the case himself. Weeks later, Perkins said his family retained private counsel, but no lawyer ever showed.

Perkins was charged Sept. 29 after he allegedly exchanged cash and drugs with the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team during a buy-bust operation at a Streator car wash. An agent reported a shot seemed to sail over his head, but nobody was injured.

Perkins faces a complicated set of sentencing ranges, but a conviction for attempted murder with a firearm could effectively put him behind bars for life. Perkins might have another problem: the woman with him might have cut a deal with the state.

Alaina J. Cravatta is charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm but under the accountability theory; prosecutors allege that Perkins fired the shot but that Cravatta was a full participant in the drug deal, making her equally culpable for the shot.

Cravatta also appeared Friday but continued to waive her right to a speedy trial. She has been granted three continuances since Jan. 13, when she was subpoenaed in Perkins’ case. Prosecutors haven’t disclosed that she’s now a state witness, and attorneys cannot comment on a pending case, but the subpoena and continuances suggest that she has flipped.