Sangamon County state's attorney, sheriff file lawsuit against Illinois

Following a growing number of state's attorneys throughout Illinois, Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright and Sheriff Jack Campbell have filed a lawsuit against the state over Public Act 101-0652, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act, which will end cash bail starting this January.

Constitutional questions are at the heart of the 39-page lawsuit filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court on Wednesday. It alleges a violation of bail provisions in the state constitution and procedural violations such as a failure to confine the bill to one subject. Named as defendants are Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel C. Welch and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon.

The SAFE-T Act is becoming a common talking point among Republicans such as gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Darren Bailey and attorney general candidate Thomas DeVore.

Wright said in a press release that his decision to file the lawsuit is not about election season politics and he actually supports portions of the act.

Instead, he supports a trailer bill to address both the concerns of public safety officials while maintaining the proper reforms enacted by the legislature.

Related:Indepth: There's more than no cash bail in Illinois' pretrial detention system overhaul

"Getting criminal justice reform right for all citizens of Illinois is too important to allow our public discourse to devolve into hyperbole divorced from the plain language of the Act, our Constitution, and common sense," a press release from his office reads.

In its totality, the 764-page SAFE-T Act is an omnibus bill regarding criminal justice reform in Illinois — including updates to use-of-force standards and a requirement for all police departments to have body cameras by 2025 among others. Yet, perhaps what is most controversial is the end of cash bail.

Cash bail will be no more in Illinois effective Jan. 1, 2023, and, as written, Wright said the act would prevent a judge's current ability to detain any suspect after an assessment of the circumstances. Alternatively, he says the act will "strictly limit the charged offenses eligible for pretrial detention" dependent on the degree of the crime.

That limitation is seen in Section 110-6.1 of the legislation, Wright said, which makes misdemeanors and Class 4 felonies not explicitly stated essentially non-detainable. Among those charges are aggravated assault with a firearm, threats of violence at a school, concealment of death and more.

Per Section 110-2 of the act, pretrial detention "only shall be imposed when it is determined that the defendant poses a specific, real and present threat to a person, or has a high likelihood of willful flight."

Other forcible felony charges in the act such as second-degree murder, robbery and arson are probational, Wright said, which means judges would no longer be able to detain a defendant regardless of their potential danger to the community as a whole.

The state's attorney argued that willful flight standard is "narrowly defined," as the act does not permit a past failure to appear before the court to be considered as evidence of a future non-appearance. With this definition of willful flight, Wright said the detention would be "extremely unlikely."

Related:Where Illinois GOP governor candidate Darren Bailey stands on abortion & cash bail

With the Illinois General Assembly's return to Springfield approaching in just less than five weeks, the November veto session would likely be the last time the legislature could enact reform to the act. Already, there have been calls to do so by Republican and Democrat lawmakers.

In a virtual press conference held Wednesday, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said the legislation will drive-up costs for local government — a consequence he claims Pritzker and the Democratic majority in the General Assembly failed to consider.

As a result of these mandates, Durkin said two police departments in Clark and Knox counties were forced to disband as they cannot afford to operate without tax increases.

"This means less law enforcement on the street," he said. "That's called de facto defunding and there's more to come."

Other suggested reforms come from state Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, whose bill would allow judges to deny pretrial release for any alleged crime if the individual is a threat to a person or the community.

Pritzker has been a steadfast defender of the SAFE-T Act dating prior to his signature of the bill in January 2021, saying it will keep murderers, domestic abusers and violent criminals behind bars. The current standard of cash bail, he has said, favors those with the money to post bail instead of those who may commit additional offenses or flee prosecution.

Fourm:Pritzker considering SAFE-T Act changes; Bailey urges full repeal

Asked whether he supports Bennett's bill — Senate Bill 4228 — the governor did not fully endorse it but did not eliminate the possibility of reform.

“I haven't gone through every provision that he has proposed, but I know that Senator Bennett, who was a prosecutor, a Democrat from Champaign and Vermillion counties, is somebody who is very careful in the way he approaches issues like this and I'm always open to working with people who are rational and reasonable in their proposals,” he said during the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors governor forum last week.

With the lawsuit, Sangamon County joins fellow counties such as Knox, La Salle and Douglas in opposition to the SAFE-T Act. Republicans have claimed that 100 out of 102 state's attorneys are not in favor of the legislation.

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Sangamon County state's attorney, sheriff file lawsuit over SAFE-T Act