Accused HP Parade Shooter's Trial Pushed Back From February

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Robert Crimo III, the accused shooter in the 2022 Highland Park July 4 parade mass shooting, will not go to trial as scheduled next month, but attorneys are pushing for two very different timelines for when Crimo will face numerous felony charges connected to the state's bloodiest mass shooting.

Crimo appeared in a Lake County courtroom Wednesday as his attorney from the public defender's office requested that his client go to trial in early 2025, which was the original timeline for the trial. However, Crimo III, who is accused of killing seven people and injuring nearly 50 more in the parade shooting, had pushed for a speedy trial when he announced that he would represent himself.

However, the 23-year-old suspected shooter, reversed course last week and announced that he again wished to be represented by the public defender's office. Judge Victoria Rossetti approved that request heading into Wednesday's hearing when Anton Trizna, the attorney assigned to represent Crimo, asked that the trial date be pushed back a year from its February timeline.

However, Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart argued he believed that he, along with the public defender's office, should not need a year to prepare their respective cases. Instead, he pushed for a trial date in either September or October of this year.

Rinehart said in court on Wednesday that his office had expended "significant resources" to get ready for trial in February as scheduled, and pushed for the trial to remain on schedule for this year.

While Rossetti agreed to remove the trial from the court's calendar for next month, she declined to set a firm court date and, instead, ordered that the parties return to court on Feb. 21 to further discuss a new trial date.

Trizna pushed for the next hearing to take place in April, but Rossetti, replied, "I'm not going to wait that long" and set the next hearing date for next month.

Crimo III remains in an administrative segregated cell at the Lake County Jail after violating jail policy by using another inmate's PIN to call his mother despite being restricted from using the phone.

Crimo III faces 21 counts of first-degree murder and numerous other charges in connection with the 2022 mass shooting.

Update: Highland Park Parade Shooting Defendant's Trial Date Set For February 2025