Some Confusion, Growing Pains on First Day Without Cash Bail
The bond court courtroom in DuPage County. (Photo: Daily Herald)
NOTE: This story was originally posted for subscribers only. To receive subscriber-only newsletters and content, click here.
When the doors opened a little after 8:30 Monday morning to the DuPage County Courtroom previously known as Bond Court, a gaggle of lawyers scrambled around computers and files to prepare for 22 cases.
It marked a new day in Illinois courts, ushering in a new system eliminating cash bail and forcing a choice between releasing a defendant or holding them until trial.
DuPage County Judge Joshua Dieden presided over the “initial appearance cases” Monday morning where defendants were usually released with conditions, like having no contact with the victim, being ordered not to leave the state, or to surrender their firearms pending trial. Other cases where prosecutors were seeking pre-trial detention were pushed to formal “detention hearings” later in the day.
It didn’t come without its growing pains, though. After trudging through 11 hearings in the first two hours, Dieden conferred with attorneys and learned there were as many as ten detention hearings set for the afternoon.
“Should we order dinner?,” the judge asked attorneys with a smile.
In fact, the first two defendants the state sought to detain, both charged with domestic battery, were denied by the judge. Though Dieden ordered they not have contact with the victims, in one case, the defendant’s 12-year-old son.
The only criticism of the law came when a defendant was charged with Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Resisting a Peace Officer while on probation for another gun charge in Cook County. Because the new charges were misdemeanors, the defendant was not eligible for pre-trial detention. Judge Dieden voiced his displeasure.
“The court is concerned,” he said.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told the Chicago Tribune his office filed detention petitions for defendants charged with domestic battery, among other offenses. Court staff worked through the changes, with some slips in referencing the proceedings as bond court.
The Daily Herald reported few issues in suburban Kane County.
"Everyone was prepared and it went well," Kane County Chief Judge Clint Hull said.
Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz downplayed any changes, calling it a “normal Monday.”
“We planned for it, and despite all our planning there were some issues that arose,” Rietz said. “So, we answered the questions and will do it again [Tuesday] and [Wednesday] and the next day and the next.”
(Disclosure: I’ve done political work for Rietz in the past.)
In Madison and St. Clair counties in southern Illinois, a handful of detention hearings are scheduled for Tuesday.
In Macon County, Chief Public Defender Michelle Sanders told the Herald & Review she thought the first day had gone well with no big problems. “I think day one went fairly smoothly generally; the rulings were not unexpected,” she said of the cases.
“And I really appreciated that we were able to get some people released with conditions. It makes sense because they are individuals who likely would have been able to post their bond anyway. So I don’t think we’re going to change what the numbers in the jail would have looked like between last weekend and this week.”
McLean County Chief Judge Casey Costigan told the Bloomington Pantagraph said it took a little time to implement the new system.
“I thought that today’s hearing complied with the statute, complied with the legislative intent. It took a little while, but obviously in the beginning we’re going through a lot of new things,” said Costigan, speaking after the afternoon’s proceedings that lasted more than two hours.
In Cook County, domestic violence cases started an hour late.
According to the Sun-Times, there were 16 cases of misdemeanor domestic violence before Judge Michael Hogan. Most of them involved a single count of domestic battery.
The day started with an apology from the judge. “Still working a few kinks out of the system,” Hogan said.
Cases like Domestic Battery are likely to take up a large portion of the new detention hearings. Domestic Battery was initially left off the list of charges a defendant could be detained for, but was added when lawmakers amended the law late last year, citing the safety of victims.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin, who opposed the initial law and was part of the group of prosecutors who helped make amendments last year, said politics won’t play a role in the new system.
“We're all professionals,” he said. “We all have an obligation to follow the law, whether we agree with it or not.”