A father asked a judge to dismiss his case in which authorities say he helped his son obtain a gun license three years before the younger man allegedly killed seven people at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade last year.
Illinois prosecutors charged Robert Crimo Jr. under an unconstitutionally vague law, his lawyer argued Monday at a hearing in Waukegan.
Lake County Judge George Strickland will rule on the motions to dismiss on Aug. 28.
If he allows the case to proceed, Crimo Jr.’s bench trial would start Nov. 6.
Crimo Jr. has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of reckless conduct — one for each person killed. Each count carries a maximum three-year prison term.
Prosecutors said he helped his son Robert Crimo III obtain a gun license even though the then-19-year-old had threatened violence.
The four-sentence section of the state law invoked to charge Crimo Jr. says “a person commits reckless conduct when he or she, by any means lawful or unlawful, recklessly performs an act or acts that ... cause great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement to another person.”
Crimo Jr.’s lawyer, George Gomez, argued prosecutors interpreted the law in an overly broad way that could create a “chilling effect” for residents who would worry that signing any affidavit, in this case a firearm owners ID application, could eventually be considered reckless conduct.
Gomez also said the law doesn’t define “cause,” opening the way for prosecutors to wrongly link the signing of a gun-license application to a shooting years later.
Garson S. Fischer, an assistant Illinois attorney general, argued that Crimo Jr.’s signature on the affidavit wasn’t protected free speech. Fischer also said the charges were not overly broad because the statute limits itself to reckless conduct that causes great bodily harm.
Fischer argued that the term “cause” is not constitutionally vague, and that if it were, all criminal laws would be opened to similar scrutiny.
The judge did not rule on the motions but hinted that some of the arguments made by the defense would need to consider facts of the case, and that he’d need a trial to do that.
Strickland gave the lawyers until Aug. 22 to file more motions in the case.
A grand jury indicted Crimo Jr.’s son last year on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack. Potential evidence is voluminous in the son’s case, and no trial date has been set. He has pleaded not guilty.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said after the father’s arrest that the accusations against him are based on sponsorship of his son’s application for a gun license in December 2019. Authorities say Crimo III tried to kill himself in April 2019, and in September 2019 was accused by a family member of making threats to “kill everyone.”
“Parents who help their kids get weapons of war are morally and legally responsible when those kids hurt others with those weapons,” Rinehart said at the time.
Legal experts have said it is rare for a parent or guardian of a suspect in a shooting to face charges, in part because it’s so difficult to prove such charges.
