An Illinois judge is expected to decide Monday whether the father of the man accused of fatally shooting seven people at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago will stand trial himself for helping his son obtain a gun license three years earlier.
Prosecutors charged the father, Robert Crimo Jr., under an unconstitutionally vague law and the whole case should therefore be tossed, his lawyer argued at a hearing earlier this month in Waukegan, north of Highland Park where the 2022 shooting took place. If Lake County Judge George Strickland rejects the defense motion to dismiss, Crimo Jr.'s bench trial would start on Nov. 6.
The judge said at that earlier hearing that he'd take three weeks to mull a decision and announce his ruling at Monday's hearing.
Crimo Jr. pleaded not guilty earlier this year to seven counts of reckless conduct — one count for each person killed. Each count carries a maximum three-year prison term.
Prosecutors had alleged that 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.”
A defense filing argued that the law’s lack of specificity makes it impossible to know what actions qualify as criminal reckless conduct. They also say it offers no definition of “cause,” opening the way for prosecutors to wrongly link the signing of a gun license application to a shooting years later.
“Here, the reckless conduct charge ... specifically seeks to criminalize the Defendant’s lawful act of signing a truthful affidavit,” according to the filing. It adds that, until Crimo Jr.’s case, “Illinois has never prosecuted an individual for signing a truthful affidavit under oath.”
Crimo Jr.’s lawyer, George Gomez, argued earlier this month that 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 owner's ID application — could eventually be deemed reckless conduct.
Garson S. Fischer, an assistant Illinois attorney general, countered that the law was not overly broad, in part because it is limited to reckless conduct that causes great bodily harm.
A grand jury indicted the 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, for which 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 are based on his 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 was accused by a family member in September 2019 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’s 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.
The father is a familiar face around Highland Park, where he was once a mayoral candidate and operated convenience stores. He was released on a $50,000 bond after his December arrest.
