Illinois State Sen. Don DeWitte (R-St. Charles) | senatordewitte.com
Illinois State Sen. Don DeWitte (R-St. Charles) | senatordewitte.com
Illinois State Sen. Don DeWitte (R-St. Charles) is celebrating a judge’s ruling noting the unconstitutionality of the cashless bail portion of the SAFE-T Act.
Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas W. Cunnington of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois released the ruling on Dec. 28.
“This ruling comes as no surprise to those of us who have been warning of constitutionality issues for two years now,” DeWitte said on Facebook. “Let's hope the newly-gerrymandered IL Supreme Court upholds Judge Cunnington's ruling that the pre-trial detention section of the SAFE-T Act is unconstitutional and that these kinds of changes must be made through voters in a Constitutional Amendment.”
In his ruling Cunnington said, “The administration of the justice system is an inherent power of the courts upon which the legislature may not infringe and the setting of bail falls within that administrative power, the appropriateness of bail rests with the authority of the court and may not be determined by legislative fiat.”
Chicago-Kent College of Law criminal law professor Richard Kling noted that the ruling was a forgone conclusion.
“The arguments raised all had merit, they weren’t frivolous,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times.
After the ruling, the SAFE-T Act will still take effect on Jan. 1 in the 37 counties not included in the lawsuit. In those counties, thousands of inmates awaiting trial for serious crimes would be released. But the 65 counties involved in the lawsuit will not be subject to those provisions of the SAFE-T Act.
The Act underwent changes after a campaign communications blitz revealed several glaring errors in the law. No Republicans voted for the bill or the subsequent changes. When the SAFE-T Act is implemented in the surviving counties, those charged with the most heinous crimes—such as robbery, kidnapping, arson, second-degree murder, intimidation, aggravated battery, aggravated DUI, aggravated flight, drug-related homicide, and threatening a public official—will be freed; as the Will County Gazette previously reported.
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