Evidence Battles Loom In Murder Trial Of Accused Highland Park Shooter Bobby Crimo

WAUKEGAN, IL — Lake County prosecutors and attorneys for the accused gunman in the Highland Park parade mass shooting are preparing to argue over which evidence to include in his upcoming murder trial.

At a case management conference Wednesday in Waukegan, Lake County Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti, the judge presiding over the case, set a hearing for this summer to schedule a date for arguments over motions from the prosecution and defense to exclude certain material from evidence.

Assistant State's Attorney Ben Dillon said his office had already filed five motions to limit evidence in the case.

"We anticipate filing additional motions," Dillon told Rosetti. "And in speaking with the defense this morning, we expect at least one, or several, defense motions."

Rossetti scheduled the next hearing on the case for Aug. 28 to figure out a hearing date for all motions filed by then. The jury trial is tentatively scheduled to begin Feb. 24, 2025.

Highland Park Patch has requested copies of the prosecution's pending motions in the case. Any information received will be added here.

Crimo faces 117 felony charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder, three for each of the seven paradegoers who were fatally shot in downtown Highland Park — Katie Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Straus, Jacki Sundheim, Nicolás Toledo and Eduardo Uvaldo.

A 23-year-old Highland Park High School dropout, Crimo was an aspiring musician who released a series of videos prior to the massacre containing violent themes, including images suggestive of a school shooting and a video of the Highland Park parade route.

Crimo has been held at Lake County Jail since he was arrested on Route 41 on the evening of the July 4, 2022, parade shooting following an hourslong manhunt.

Authorities said he dropped the murder weapon as he fled and went to his mother's house, where he picked up another semiautomatic rifle, put it in her Honda Fit, drove to the Madison, Wisconsin, area and buried his cell phone.

Last September, Rosetti revoked Crimo's access to phones, tablets and the internet. Jailhouse videos and audio recordings of Crimo describing government involvement in the shooting were subsequently posted online by a conspiracy theorist who describes herself as a longtime friend of his.

That order was partially rescinded last month after prosecutors and Crimo's defense attorneys both asked the judge to allow him to have phone contact with his immediate family.

Last December, Crimo briefly dismissed his court-appointed public defenders and demanded a speedy trial. For a time, the trial date was moved forward by 12 months. But the accused shooter soon decided against acting as his own attorney and, in January, asked to again have free legal representation.

Separately from the criminal proceedings, Crimo and his father are also co-defendants in civil lawsuits filed on behalf of victims and survivors. Their complaints also name gunmaker Smith & Wesson and two gun stores from which Crimo allegedly purchased the gun used in the shooting as defendants.

Last month, an appellate court ruled against the firearm manufacturer, shooting down the company's efforts to get the case transferred into federal court. Congress has provided gunmakers broad immunity from federal lawsuits over what people do with the guns they sell.