November 21, 2024
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Prosecutors continue to share evidence in Highland Park mass shooting case

Tuesday marked first hearing in nearly three months in the case against Robert Crimo III

By Doug T. Graham - Daily Herald Media Group
Robert E. Crimo III, left appears with his attorneys Gregory Ticsay, assistant public defender for Lake County, center, and Anton Trizna before Judge Victoria A. Rossetti at the Lake County Courthouse Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Waukegan. Crimo III is accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park.

Robert E. Crimo III, Gregory Ticsay, Anton Trizna Robert E. Crimo III, left appears with his attorneys Gregory Ticsay, assistant public defender for Lake County, center, and Anton Trizna before Judge Victoria A. Rossetti at the Lake County Courthouse Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Waukegan. Crimo III is accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, Pool/AP)

Prosecutors reported no issues Tuesday in the lengthy process of reviewing materials and evidence for the criminal trial against the suspected Highland Park Fourth of July parade mass shooter.

It was the first hearing in nearly three months in the case against Robert Crimo III, 22, of Highwood, who pleaded not guilty in August to the 117 criminal charges against him. It lasted barely 3 minutes before Lake County Judge Victoria Rosetti set the next hearing for May 9.

Prosecutors said since the last status hearing in November they have shared more than 10,000 pages of written documents as well as dozens of video and audio files with the alleged shooter’s attorneys. The process, referred to commonly as discovery, is expected to be lengthy given the number of victims in the case.

Ashbey Beasley, a Highland Park resident who survived the mass shooting, was one of about 10 people who attended Tuesday’s hearing.

“It really never gets easier seeing him,” Beasley said after the hearing.

She said she sits in the gallery to represent her neighbors who aren’t ready or able to attend the hearings, as well as to gain motivation to continue her efforts lobbying federal lawmakers to support gun reforms. Beasley said she is headed to Washington D.C. Wednesday to continue that task. “I think our lawmakers are starting to stand up and they’re starting to listen,” she added.

Charges against the accused shooter are 21 counts of first-degree murder, three for each of the seven people killed by gunfire; 48 counts of attempted murder; and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm for each person struck by a bullet, bullet fragment or shrapnel.

Officials said the accused opened fire from a rooftop at spectators in the streets below. Seven gunshot victims died and more than 50 others were injured, both by gunfire and in the rush for safety that followed.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20230131/prosecutors-continue-to-share-evidence-in-highland-park-mass-shooting-case

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