Lake County State's Attorney Responds To SAFE-T Act 'Disinformation'

WAUKEGAN, IL — First-term Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart is not up for reelection next month, but that has not stopped him from campaigning.

Rinehart, a Highland Park Democrat and former criminal defense attorney, is one of two elected county prosecutors in Illinois to vocally back the SAFE-T Act's changes to pretrial detention rules set to take effect at the start of next year. The other is Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx.

"Illinois is going to be a leader with respect to safety decisions," Rinehart said in a video released by his office. "Illinois is going to be a leader in eliminating racial disparities in our courthouse because of the SAFE-T Act."

While many aspects of the 764-page act have already taken effect since lawmakers approved it in the final hours of the January 2021 lame duck session, the provision that eliminates cash bail and restructures the bond hearing process — the Pretrial Fairness Act — has generated the most controversy.

Conservative groups, such as the political action committee financed by Lake Forest billionaire Dick Uihlein, have described the bill as Gov. J.B. Pritzker's "Purge Law," a reference to the series of films where crime becomes legal for a day.

"Civilization is on the ballot November 8th," declares the narrator in a recent ad from People Who Play By The Rules PAC. "It's Pritzker or your personal safety. You can't have both."

Rinehart and backers of cashless bail emphasize the the current system of pretrial detention allows for rich people to sometimes buy their way out of jail after being charged with a crime.

They note that the federal criminal court and juvenile justice systems have already ended cash bail. And every major victims' advocacy group supports an end to cash bail.

"The disinformation campaign being spread about the SAFE-T Act aims to divide us by instilling fear based on race and class," Rinehart said in a social media post that included a link to a document titled, "SAFE-T Act Facts."

The release makes mention of "violent offenders" and "non-violent offenders."

"Violent offenders will be held while awaiting trial if a judge finds they are a threat to the community," the document said.

"Under the SAFE-T Act, non-violent offenders can be held while awaiting trial if a judge finds they are a flight risk," it said.

But nowhere in the act is there any mention of "violent" or "non-violent" offenses or offenders.

Plus, the act specifies that judges should only consider whether a person is a threat to an individual, not the community, when they are charged with certain crimes.

Patch asked Rinehart's office what "violent offenders" meant in the context of the document but did not get an answer.

The key provision of the Pretrial Fairness Act is a change to Sec. 110-6.1 of the criminal code, which currently lays out the rules for hearings to order people held without bond.

Whether or not a person is held for a detention hearing will depend on the charge they face and whether prosecutors seek to have the person jailed while awaiting trial, according to the section.

According to a flow chart produced the Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Implementation Task Force, if a person is arrested but not charged with a crime "for which pretrial release may be denied under 110-6.1," then the officer should apply a "presumption in favor of release without appearance before a judge."

Those offenses include all non-probationable forcible felonies. If a judge decides a defendant "poses a specific, real and present threat to any person or the community," pretrial release can be denied.

Pretrial release can also be denied for defendants in stalking cases who threaten the victim of the alleged offense, a person charged with domestic abuse who had an order or protection or previous conviction who is determined to post a threat to any person, anyone charged with a sex offense and found to pose a threat to any person, or anyone charged with a firearm offense who poses a threat to the safety of "any specifically identifiable person or persons," according to the text of the section.

Those charged with all but the lowest level of felonies can also be held ahead of trial if a judge finds they have "a high likelihood of willful flight to avoid prosecution," although failure to appear in court in the past cannot be used as evidence that a person is a flight risk, according to the law as it is currently written.

And even people facing misdemeanor charges can be ordered jailed ahead of trial if they violate the conditions of their pretrial release, prosecutors seek to revoke it and a judge finds clear and convincing evidence that there are no conditions that could prevent them from getting charged with a third crime.

"People don't want to talk about how police leaders have been involved for years in talking about how to make our pretrial system better," Rinehart said in a video promoting the SAFE-T Act. "People don't want to talk about the state's attorneys who've spent hours on these trailer bills and making this legislation even better."

More than half of Illinois' elected state's attorneys, including many Democrats, have filed suit to block aspects of the SAFE-T Act before they take effect in January. This week, Fayette County State's Attorney Joshua Morrison announced 57 such lawsuits would be consolidated into a single suit to be heard in Kankakee County.

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Illinois Sheriff's Association have been pushing for another trailer bill to amend the act, describing "concerns over public safety and the ability to detain violent offenders."

Among the changes to pretrial release rules sought by the law enforcement group: "Changes should be made to the list of detainable offenses," the addition of language about considering the "threat to the public or society as a whole" when determining whether to release someone and a change to the definition of flight risk.

Neither of the trailer bills that have passed so far with the support of law enforcement associations have significantly amended the Pretrial Fairness Act.

Pritzker said he expects lawmakers to pass a third SAFE-T Act "trailer" bill to amend it after next month's election — but before it takes effect in January.

But the governor stopped short of endorsing a draft bill introduced by Champaign Democratic State Sen. Scott Bennett, although Pritzker has said he would like to see an amendment to make sure prosecutors do not release "violent criminals" onto the streets on Jan. 1 "because of their own disinformation and misinterpretation of the SAFE-T Act."

Patch posed a series of questions to Rinehart's office on Oct. 21, including what parts, if any, of Bennett's proposed amendment he supports — or whether he would support any specific modifications to the act's changes to pretrial detention rules. Though Rinehart and a spokesperson each promised to provide answers, they had not done so more than a week later.

Read more: SAFE-T Act Pretrial Release Rules Could Change Before They Take Effect