Highland Park massacre suspect postpones trial date
Robert E. Crimo III., listens to Judge Victoria Rossetti during a case management conference at the Lake County Courthouse Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. He agreed on Wednesday to postpone his trial date.
AP
The Highland Park massacre suspect agreed Wednesday to postpone his trial, which had been set for late February, but a judge won’t set a trial date until later next month.
Robert Crimo III, accused of killing seven people at a Fourth of July parade in 2022, had invoked his right to a speedy trial last month after dismissing his lawyers, and a jury trial was set for Feb. 26.
But that date was scraped in court Wednesday, with Crimo consenting. A new date was not set because lawyers couldn’t agree on one.
Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said she’ll set a new trial date on Feb. 21.
Less than a week after Crimo reappointed his assistant public defenders, one of his attorneys asked the judge to push the date to February 2025 — the date attorneys were seeking before they were dismissed.
Prosecutors, who had been rushing to prepare for the earlier trial, said they now want a trial in September or October this year.
Crimo has been held at Lake County Jail since he was charged days after the July 4, 2022, attack. He faces 117 felony counts in connection to the attack that wounded nearly 50 people.